HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Labour Party: Expenses

Jake Berry: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission how much Short Money has been allocated to the Labour party since May 2010 (a) in total, (b) for travel and associated expenses and (c) for the running costs of the Leader of the Opposition's Office; and whether the House of Commons Commission holds information on the amount of such funding spent on first-class travel.

George Young: I have been asked to reply 
	as Leader of the House of Commons.
	The amount of Short Money received by the Labour party since May 2010 has been:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Total paid 11,070,700 
			 Main funding 9,635,516 
			 Leader of the Opposition's Office 1,305,192 
			 Travel 129,992 
		
	
	No information is held about the class of travel.

TREASURY

Capital Gains Tax

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the potential revenue to the Exchequer arising from applying capital gains tax to non-resident UK citizens.

David Gauke: No such estimate is available as non-resident UK citizens are not usually liable to CGT in the UK, and so HMRC does not collect data on their potential liability.

Credit Unions

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent steps he has taken to encourage the use of credit unions.

Mark Hoban: The Legislative Reform Order for Industrial and Provident Societies and Credit Unions, which came into force on 8 January 2012, will increase these organisations' capacity to lend to their members, and increase the appeal of credit unions to their local community. In particular, it will allow credit unions to admit corporate bodies, such as local charities and firms as members. It will also mean that credit unions can offer interest on deposits for the first time (rather than end of year dividend), making the benefits of saving with them much clearer. These proposals will help credit unions grow their expanding membership still further.

Crime: Assets

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs has recovered through criminal assets seizures in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: holding answer 8 March 2012
	In recovering criminal assets, HMRC primarily uses the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (or for cases pre-POCA the Drugs Trafficking Act or the Criminal Justice Act). The two main recovery regimes within POCA are part 2 Confiscation and part 5 Civil Recovery, including cash forfeiture. HMRC via the CPS, records POCA recovery performance on the Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD), which is used to capture receipts against recovery orders issued by the courts.
	Considering the volume of confiscation orders granted since 2000 and the fact that most orders will not be realised within the year granted it has not been possible to provide a summation of receipts for each year since 2000. The following represents the totality of HMRC's confiscation work since 2000 and cash forfeiture work since 2003.
	Total receipts of confiscation orders(1) granted to date £177,046,923.25.
	Total value of forfeiture orders realised to date £37,688,874.94.
	Application of default sentencing for non-payment of a POCA confiscation order can have a profound deterrent effect and HMRC is committed, along with other law enforcement partners, to make full use of all of the asset recovery tools available within the Act, denying criminals access to their proceeds of crime. HMRC continues to work collaboratively with partners overseas to identify and recover assets held abroad.
	(1) HMRC works collaboratively with HM Courts and Tribunal Service and the Crown Prosecution Service to assist with the enforcement of confiscation orders granted.

EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue the Exchequer received from the EU Emissions Trading System in each year the scheme has been in operation.

Chloe Smith: Results from UK auctions of emissions allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System can be found on the Debt Management Office website at:
	http://www.dmo.gov.uk/
	Receipts to date have been around £95 million, £405 million, £435 million and £235 million in years 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively.

Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to encourage EU member states to implement the non-mandatory counter-fraud functionalities within the Excise Movement and Control System to combat alcohol duty fraud.

Chloe Smith: The Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) is built to a common specification prescribed by EC Regulation that applies in all 27 member states of the European Union. Some member states have been unable to implement the full reporting functionality of EMCS. The EU Commission, strongly supported by the UK, has developed interim solutions that enable these member states to provide the full, range of functions.
	The Government take revenue fraud very seriously and attach great importance to collaborative working with other member states and the EU Commission. Officials from HM Revenue and Customs are working closely with the Commission to highlight and disseminate best practice in the use of EMCS to identify and counter fraud. The UK is also actively engaged in multi-lateral control exercises and exchange of information with a number of member states as a means of tackling fraud and closing the tax gap.

Income Tax: Tax Rates and Bands

Mark Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will estimate the number of civil servants who benefited from the increase in the personal allowance of income tax in 2011-12; and if he will estimate the likely number of civil servants who will benefit from the increase in 2012-13;
	(2)  if he will estimate the number of civil servants in each (a) region and (b) local authority area who will no longer be eligible to pay income tax once the income tax threshold is set at £10,000;
	(3)  if he will estimate the number of civil servants in each (a) region and (b) local authority area who will no longer be eligible to pay income tax following the increase in the personal allowance in April 2012.

David Gauke: holding answer 21 March 2012
	The June 2010 Budget announced a £1,000 cash increase in the personal allowance for under 65s to £7,475 in 2011-12 (£820 above the previous Government's plans), with the benefits focused on individuals on low and middle incomes through accompanying changes to the basic rate limit and national insurance upper earnings and profit limits.
	The 2011 Budget announced a £630 cash increase in the personal allowance for under 65s to £8,105 in 2012-13 (£240 above indexation), with an equivalent reduction in the basic rate limit to leave the higher rate threshold unchanged.
	As a result of these measures, the Government estimate that 22.6 million basic rate taxpayers will benefit in 2011-12, among which 830,000 of the lowest income taxpayers will be removed from tax altogether.
	In 2012-13 the Government estimate that 25 million taxpayers will benefit, among which 260,000 of the lowest income taxpayers will be removed from tax altogether.
	These estimates are based on the 2007-08 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2011 economic and fiscal outlook.
	The information requested is not available specifically for civil servants.
	The Government are committed to supporting lower and middle income earners by raising the personal allowance to £10,000, and removing the lowest income individuals out of income tax. Decisions on future changes in the personal allowance will be taken as part of the annual Budget process in the context of the wider public finances.

Income Tax: Tax Rates and Bands

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of people resident in Yeovil constituency who will no longer pay income tax consequent (a) on the proposed increase in the personal income tax allowance from April 2012 and (b) on the proposed increase in the personal income tax allowance to £10,000 by April 2015.

David Gauke: The 2011 Budget announced a £630 cash increase in the personal allowance for under 65s to £8,105 in 2012-13 (£240 above indexation), with an equivalent reduction in the basic rate limit to leave the higher rate threshold unchanged.
	As a result of these measures the Government estimated that in 2012-13 260,000 of the lowest income taxpayers will be removed from tax altogether. Information at Government office region is provided in the following table.
	
		
			 Government office region Number ta ken out of invoice tax (thousand) 
			 North East 10 
			 North West and Merseyside 28 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 26 
			 East Midlands 18 
			 West Midlands 25 
			 East of England 25 
			 London 30 
			 South East 32 
			 South West 24 
			 Wales 10 
			 Scotland 21 
			 Northern Ireland 9 
			 Address abroad/unknown 3 
			 All 260 
		
	
	These estimates are based on the 2007-08 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2012-13 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility's March 2011 economic and fiscal outlook.
	Reliable estimates are not available at parliamentary constituency level, due to greater uncertainties in projections for small geographical areas and small sample sizes.
	The Government are committed to supporting lower and middle income earners by raising the personal allowance to £10,000, and removing the lowest income individuals out of income tax. Decisions on future changes in the personal allowance will be taken as part of the annual Budget process in the context of the wider public finances.

Northern Rock Asset Management

Robert Flello: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has discussed with Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc the rate of interest it charges customers.

Mark Hoban: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Revenue and Customs: Scotland

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to close HM Revenue and Customs offices in Scotland.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is developing plans for the future of its estate to meet the efficiencies required by the spending review settlement.
	HMRC has confirmed the estate changes to be taken forward in both 2012-13 and 2013-14 and in January put forward the changes it proposes to make in 2014-15.
	No offices in Scotland were included in the closures announced for 2012-13.
	HMRC will be closing nine offices in 2013-14. These include one office in Scotland, Government House in Wick. Wick was previously announced for closure as part of the earlier regional review programme and its closure date was deferred on 20 July 2011 until 2014.
	On 25 January HMRC outlined proposals for the closure of 17 offices across the country in 2014-15. These include two offices in Scotland, Marress House in Irvine and Pentland House in Livingston. Feasibility work is currently being undertaken on all proposals and this will inform the final decisions to be announced in April 2012.
	HMRC has confirmed that Edinburgh (incorporating Bathgate and Livingston) and Glasgow (incorporating Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Paisley) are included in the 16 key centres where it will retain a presence until at least 2020.
	In addition, the offices in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glenrothes and Inverness are included in the 82 specific locations where HMRC will have a presence at least until 2015.

Working Tax Credit: Clwyd

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many recipients of working tax credits in Clwyd South constituency work between 16 and 24 hours a week.

David Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the parliamentary question answered on 10 January 2012, Official  Report, column 72W.

PRIME MINISTER

Members: Correspondence

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for West Bromwich West of 22 February 2012, Official Report, columns 873-4W, on regulation of the pub industry, if he will place a copy of his letter to the hon. Member in the Library.

David Cameron: A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Ministerial Policy Advisers

Helen Goodman: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  what the role was of each official who reported to Mr Steve Hilton during his employment at 10 Downing street;
	(2)  whether Mr Steve Hilton had access to papers on (a) policy in the forthcoming Communications Green Paper and (b) policy on the internet during his employment at 10 Downing street;
	(3)  whether Mr Steve Hilton attended meetings on (a) policy in the forthcoming Communications Green Paper and (b) policy on the internet during his employment at 10 Downing street;
	(4)  whether Mr Steve Hilton made any declaration of conflicts of interest under paragraph 15B of the model contract for special advisers.

David Cameron: Consistent with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, Steve Hilton has no line management responsibility for any officials. He has access to papers, and attends meetings as necessary for his role as special adviser. Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not normally disclosed.

SCOTLAND

Catering

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not maintain a central record of how much is spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors. All expenditure incurred is in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money.

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not maintain a central record of how much is spent on cut flowers or pot plants. All expenditure incurred is in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money.

Immigration

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with higher education institutions in Scotland on changes to immigration rules; and what steps he is taking as a result of these discussions.

David Mundell: Scotland Office Ministers are in contact with representatives from the higher education sector in Scotland on a range of issues and discuss matters relating to immigration as they arise. Recently Scotland Office Ministers were instrumental in the introduction of the new immigration rules relating to graduate entrepreneurs.

Money Advice Service

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 
	(1)  whether he has had any discussions with the Money Advice Service on the tendering process to be instituted by it in autumn 2012 for the provision of a new face-to-face service starting in autumn 2013;
	(2)  whether he has had any discussions with (a) the Scottish Government, (b) the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and (c) Citizens Advice Scotland on the tendering process to be instituted by the Money Advice Service in autumn 2012 for the provision of a new face-to-face service starting in autumn 2013.

David Mundell: My Department has not held any discussions with the Money Advice Service, nor with the Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities or the Citizens Advice Service, about the tendering process for a new face-to-face service—this is a matter for the Money Advice Service which has had detailed discussions with a wide range of stakeholders in Scotland.

Rescue Services

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what long-term plans are in place for emergency towing vessel cover in Scottish waters after 24 March 2012.

David Mundell: The UK Government have been able to extend the current ETV contract until 31 March 2012. This will allow for ongoing discussions around a solution to continue, including within Government.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

Hugo Swire: The Northern Ireland Office spent £2,994 on cut flowers and £1,960 on pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012. This expenditure relates to the purchase of cut flowers and pot plants for use at the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland's annual garden parties and other official events, functions and visits. Such costs have been reduced considerably over recent years as flowers and plants have been cultivated in the gardens of Hillsborough Castle to be used, when possible, season permitting. Both cut flowers and pot plants are reused as much as possible.

Intellectual Property

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether his Department has a role in intellectual property policy development.

Hugo Swire: My Department does not currently have a role in intellectual property policy development.

Overseas Students: Entry Clearances

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with higher education institutions in Northern Ireland on changes to immigration rules; and what steps he is taking as a result of these discussions.

Hugo Swire: Neither I nor the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), have had any such discussions. Immigration matters are excepted and the responsibility of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), and the UK Border Agency. Higher education is a transferred matter which is the responsibility of the Minister for Employment and Learning in the Northern Ireland Executive.
	Changes to immigration rules are usually notified to the House by means of a written ministerial statement and appear on the UKBA website. The UKBA liaises closely with its stakeholders in respect of changes to rules.

Taxis

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on taxis for (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants between August 2011 and January 2012.

Owen Paterson: In the six month period from August 2011 to January 2012, my Department spent £79.54 on taxis for Ministers, and £9,189.61 on taxis for civil servants.

WALES

Catering

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much her Department spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Jones: The Wales Office does not supply complimentary refreshments for staff, but we do on occasion provide teas and coffees for ministerial meetings with external bodies and individuals, although we are unable to disaggregate the costs of this.

First Time Buyers

Jonathan Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions she has had on the potential operation of an equivalent NewBuy scheme in Wales; and if she will make a statement.

David Jones: The Secretary of State for Wales, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan), and I have discussions with both ministerial colleagues and Ministers in the Welsh Government about a wide range of matters relevant to Wales.
	The Government launched the NewBuy Guarantee Scheme on 12 March. The scheme brings lenders, builders and the Government together to offer mortgages on new-build properties with much smaller deposits than currently required. The increased demand for new homes will also give a boost to house builders and the economy, and will support 50,000 construction jobs. While the scheme applies to mortgages on properties in England only, I hope that the Welsh Government will give serious consideration to introducing similar measures to benefit home buyers and the construction industry in Wales.

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much her Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

David Jones: The Wales Office has not spent anything on cut flowers between May 2010 and February 2012. £20 was spent on pot plants.

Immigration

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions she has had with higher education institutions in Wales on changes to immigration rules; and what steps she is taking as a result of these discussions.

David Jones: The Secretary of State for Wales, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan), and I have met with the Vice Chancellors of all the higher education institutions in Wales and discussed a range of issues, including the changes to immigration rules. This Government recognise the important contribution that international students make to the UK's economy, and to making our education system one of the best in the world.
	We want to encourage the best students to come to the UK to study. Our reforms will protect the UK education system and ensure that only those genuinely intending to study can come to the UK.

Intellectual Property

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether her Department has a role in intellectual property policy development.

David Jones: Intellectual property policy development is a matter for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Intellectual Property Office. The Wales Office works closely with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on a range of matters that impact on businesses in Wales and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), discussed these with the Wales Office Business Advisory Group in March 2011.

National Assembly for Wales

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much funding her Department allocated to the National Assembly for Wales in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

David Jones: The following amount of resource and capital DEL have been allocated to the Welsh Government in the last three full financial years:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2008-09 14,447,635,000 
			 2009-10 15,475,885,000 
			 2010-11 15,588,451,000

Taxis

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much her Department spent on taxis for (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants between August 2011 and January 2012.

David Jones: The Wales Office has spent £1,114 on taxis for Ministers and £2,136 on taxis for civil servants between August 2011 and 31 January 2012. The expenditure for civil servants arises in the main from access to work arrangements.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Air Pollution

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of when the UK will be fully compliant with EU requirements on air quality; and what steps she is taking to ensure such compliance.

Richard Benyon: The UK is currently compliant with EU requirements for particulate matter (PM10) in all areas except London. Compliance in London was expected in 2011 and the Government have submitted an update to the European Commission on the measures being taken to help ensure compliance is achieved. This update is publicly available on the DEFRA website.
	Meeting EU requirements for nitrogen dioxide is challenging for the UK and many EU member states. In September 2011, the Government submitted air quality plans to the European Commission outlining how EU limits for nitrogen dioxide will be met as soon as possible. These plans are publicly available on the UK Air website.
	The UK meets EU limit values currently in force for other air pollutants.

Air Pollution

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which areas in the UK were (a) compliant and (b) not compliant with nitrogen dioxide pollution limits in the latest period for which figures are available.

Richard Benyon: The UK is divided into 43 zones and agglomerations for the purposes of air quality assessment. The latest compliance assessment shows that three of those zones were compliant with the annual mean EU limit value for nitrogen dioxide in 2010. The compliant zones for this limit value are the Blackpool Urban Area, Scottish Borders and Highlands. Air quality plans setting out how compliance will be achieved in the remaining zones as soon as possible are publicly available on the UK Air website.
	The full report and compliance assessment summary of the publication ‘Air Pollution in the UK 2010' provides further information on UK compliance with air quality limits in 2010. This is also available on the UK Air website.

Air Pollution

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of fines likely to be levied by the EU on the UK for failure to comply with air quality requirements in each of the next three years.

Richard Benyon: It is not possible to estimate the level of fines that might be imposed in any particular case. Fines are calculated by taking into account the seriousness of the breach, its duration and a deterrent factor. The minimum lump sum that the European Commission would request from the UK is now €8.992 million, although the European Court of Justice could impose a different amount. Fines can take the form of periodic payments, lump sums or both together.
	No UK Government Department has ever received a fine as a result of breaching EU law. In all cases, the UK is committed to resolving any issues well before the stage at which fines could be levied by the EU and this includes compliance with our EU air quality obligations.

Air Pollution: Greater London

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect on the efficacy of air quality monitoring of the use of adhesive spray to reduce levels of PM10 in London.

Richard Benyon: The Government have not made an assessment of the effect the use of adhesive spray to reduce levels of PM10 has had on the efficacy of air quality monitoring.
	Air quality monitoring equipment in the Automatic Urban and Rural Network is regularly maintained and quality assured to ensure that it is performing to expected standards, through hourly data collection and regular site visits. Any reduction in efficacy would quickly become apparent and be investigated. There is no evidence to suggest that adhesive spray used to reduce levels of PM10 in London is impacting on the efficacy of air quality monitoring.

Air Pollution: Local Government

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the Localism Act 2011, what steps she is taking to make local authorities aware of their potential liability to pay fines for missing air quality targets.

Richard Benyon: The UK has never been fined in relation to any infraction proceedings and would always seek to work with the European Commission and relevant authorities to meet EU obligations and avoid infraction.
	The Department for Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on the policy statement to accompany part 2 of the Localism Act 2011. This 12-week consultation closes on 22 April 2012. Local authorities have received a letter encouraging them to respond to the consultation, and the Local Government Association and the Greater London Authority have been closely engaged and played a leading role in drafting the proposed policy statement.

Air Pollution: Local Government

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the effect of air pollution on public health in the context of the delegation of responsibility for public health to local authorities.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA Ministers and officials have had a number of discussions with their counterparts in the Department of Health about how air quality and other environmental outcomes in the public health outcomes framework are treated. DEFRA has worked closely with the Department of Health on raising the understanding of air quality and public health in readiness for the delegation of this responsibility to local authorities in 2013.

Airports: Thames Estuary

Mark Reckless: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effects of a new airport in the Thames Estuary on the local environment and wildlife.

Richard Benyon: No. However, in common with any other proposal for major infrastructure development, any formal proposal for a new airport in the Thames Estuary would need to be accompanied by an assessment of the environmental impacts. This would help inform the final decision in the event that approval was sought for such a scheme.

Animal Welfare: Pigs

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to end the tail docking of piglets.

James Paice: The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 does not permit the routine tail docking of pigs. Tail docking should only be used as a last resort, after improvements to the pigs' environment and management have proved ineffectual. We have effectively used cross compliance regulations to impose financial penalties for this mutilation where it has been deemed to be carried out not in accordance with the law.
	We have made significant efforts to keep farmers aware of their obligations with regard to tail docking, through careful advice in the Code of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock: Pigs, through welfare advisory campaigns we have held for pig producers and in partnership with industry partners/key stakeholders. The Government would like to see a reduction in the number of pigs that are tail docked, but recognise that despite much research, tail-biting is still a significant welfare concern in undocked pigs. It is also an EU-wide animal welfare issue and continues to be raised in Brussels.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what reduction in carbon dioxide emissions her Department has made under the 10:10 initiative.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA did not sign up to the 10:10 campaign(1).
	On 14 May 2010 the Prime Minister announced that central Government would reduce its carbon emissions by 10% within 12 months. At the end of this period (13 May 2010 to 12 May 2011) core DEFRA and its Executive agencies had reduced its carbon emissions by 11.6% or 1,448 tonnes of CO2.
	Additionally, core DEFRA and its Executive agencies delivered a 13% in-year reduction against the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) carbon dioxide from offices target during the 2009-10 reporting year, and a further 10.4% over 2010-11(2).
	(1) Further information on the 10:10 campaign can be found at
	www.1010global.org/uk
	(2) SOGE Carbon emissions from offices target:
	Reduce carbon emissions by 12.5% by 2010-11, relative to 1999-2000 levels.
	Reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2020, relative to 1999-2000 levels.

Energy: EU Law

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate her Department has made of projected annual electricity savings in the domestic sector in gigawatt hours in (a) 2020 and (b) 2030 arising from the introduction of minimum EU energy and environmental performance standards.

Richard Benyon: A number of minimum EU energy performance and labelling standards, many of which apply in the domestic sector, are being developed in two tranches. The first tranche has already been agreed across member states, and the second tranche is in the process of being agreed.
	Domestic electricity savings for tranche 1 policies are projected to be just under 17,000 GWh in 2020 and just over 12,000 GWh in 2030. Domestic electricity savings for tranche 2 policies are estimated to be just over 8,000 GWh in 2020 and just under 9,000 GWh in 2030, although it should be noted that the scope, timing and stringency of tranche 2 minimum standards are still in the process of being agreed across member states, and so the estimate cannot be made with certainty.
	These estimates do not include associated increases in gas emissions (where the heat previously produced by less efficient products will need to be generated from another source), and neither are standards that aim to reduce gas consumption included. Estimated impacts beyond 2020 are of course subject to considerable uncertainty, because of difficulties predicting how the market will respond to delivering more efficient products in the longer term.

Floods

Neil Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to ensure that (a) home owners and (b) insurers are able to access flood maps indicating the impact of flood defences and national barriers when assessing flood risks.

Richard Benyon: Home owners and insurers can access flood maps and other information showing the impact of flood defences on flood risk in a number of ways.
	The Flood Map on the Environment Agency's website allows home owners to access information on flood defence locations and the areas that benefit from these flood defences.
	Further information is available from the National Flood Risk Assessment website. This assesses the impact of the flood defences, taking their type and condition into account, including the impact of a number of significant national barriers, such as the Thames Barrier. Home owners can access this information by clicking on the Flood Map on the website, or by requesting a map.
	Insurers can access this mapped information under licence to inform their assessment of flood risk.

Floods: Housing

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to improve flood protection for more homes.

Richard Benyon: This Government will spend £2.17 billion on managing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion over this spending period (April 2011 to March 2015). We have prioritised areas of severe flood and coastal erosion risk, and households in deprived communities. Of the 145,000 homes that will be better protected by 2015, around half will be in areas of significant flood risk and almost 15,000 homes will be both at significant flood risk and in the most deprived parts of the country.
	New estimates show that the risk management authorities are on track to exceed the goal of better protecting 145,000 homes by March 2015. This is in part due to the new partnership approach to funding that has helped secure £72 million of external contributions for projects over the next three years.

Hunting

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to publish the report on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales.

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2012, Official Report, column 536W, on snares, when she plans to publish the report on the extent of the use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales.

Richard Benyon: The DEFRA commissioned report, "Determining the Extent of Use and Humaneness of Snares in England and Wales—WM0315", was published on the DEFRA website on 15 March 2012.
	I have placed a copy of the report in the Library of the House.

Information Commissioner

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many appeals her Department has made to an information tribunal contesting a decision notice of the Information Commissioner in the last 12 months.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA has not appealed to the Information Rights Tribunal in respect of any decision notices issued by the Information Commissioner in the last 12 months. This answer is for core-DEFRA only.

Lost Property

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what property has been lost or stolen from her Department in the last 12 months; and what the estimated cost was of replacement of such property.

Richard Benyon: Property lost or stolen is recorded as 'losses'. The following table shows unrecovered losses of items in core DEFRA for the period 1 March 2011 to 29 February 2012.
	
		
			 Description Quantity Estimated cost to Department £ 
			 Computers (encrypted laptops) 13 0 
			 Monitors 4 0 
			 Laptop docking stations 2 0 
			 BlackBerrys 9 1,510 
			 Projectors 2 1,000 
			 MyReader—low-vision autoreader 1 4,560 
			 ISDN codec—radio interview system 1 4,210 
			 3G cards 3 300 
		
	
	Other items (such as cables, laptop bags) have also been reported lost, but as these are of very low cost, we do not track costs.
	Standard IT equipment such as laptops and monitors are the property of IBM which has provided IT services to DEFRA since October 2004. Lost items replaced under the IBM service contract do not have a direct cost to the Department.
	All losses of equipment are taken very seriously and security guidance is regularly issued to staff. No loss of significant or sensitive data occurred as a result of these losses.

Mass Media

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what media monitoring services her Department has purchased in each of the last five years.

Richard Benyon: Over the past five years core DEFRA has procured the following services:
	
		
			 Media monitoring service Date of contract 
			 Durrants 2007 to October 2009 
			 Precise November 2009 to March 2011 
			 Durrants April 2011 to present 
			 COI Media Monitoring Unit 2007 to present 
			 Wordsworth 2007 to present

McKinsey and Company

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department paid to McKinsey and Company in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: Core DEFRA has not made any payments to McKinsey and Company in either 2010-11 or 2011-12.

Nature Conservation: Crime

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of prosecutions for offences involving harm or disturbance to marine wildlife which have been brought in (a) England, (b) the North West and (c) Cumbria in each of the last five years.

Richard Benyon: In England and its territorial waters, certain species of marine wildlife are protected under several pieces of legislation (principally the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009).
	Offences against marine wildlife are not recorded separately from offences against non-marine wildlife in the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 or the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the information requested for offences committed under those Acts.
	There are no reported proceedings under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970.

Phosphates: Western Sahara

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether any UK companies or ships are involved in exporting phosphates from occupied Western Sahara.

James Paice: DEFRA does not hold this information.

Reservoirs

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what reservoir capacity has been created since privatisation.

Richard Benyon: The capacity of reservoirs created since privatisation is 80,535,811m(3). These are reservoirs in England and Wales that fall under the Reservoirs Act 1975 (large raised reservoirs with a capacity of 25,000m(3) or more above natural ground level).

Rural Areas

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what steps she is taking to support rural communities and the rural economy;
	(2)  what new measures she is taking to support rural communities and the rural economy.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA is working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government to make sure measures designed to support business and the economy are having a proportionate and positive impact in rural areas. On 29 November 2011, the Government announced a strong package of new measures designed to stimulate sustainable growth in the rural economy and help rural businesses to reach their full potential.
	Key measures included £15 million funding for up to six pilot Rural Growth Networks; the opening for business of the £20 million Rural Community Broadband Fund; a new £25 million package to support rural tourism; a new £15 million fund to provide loans to communities interested in renewable energy; support for food and drink companies to innovate and export; and help for farmers to diversify by making it easier for them to put redundant farm buildings to appropriate alternative use.
	In addition, a new Rural and Farming Network comprising local groups from across England has been established to identify and feedback local issues and concerns straight to the heart of Government, in order to make policies more responsive to the needs of rural businesses and communities.

Waste Management

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reason the rules that prohibit anaerobic digestion activities within 250 metres of buildings used by public and private dwellings can be waived through the award of bespoke permits.

Richard Benyon: There is nothing that prohibits anaerobic digestion activities within 250 metres of occupied buildings. However, if anaerobic digestion activities are within 250 metres of occupied buildings, the Environment Agency requires a site-specific assessment to be carried out to ensure that human health and the environment will be protected. Subject to this assessment, the Environment Agency may issue a bespoke permit under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, with conditions to prevent harm or pollution. If such activities are beyond 250 metres, the operator may be eligible for a more generic Standard Rules Permit issued by the Environment Agency.

Waste Management

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the use of private finance initiative contracts to fund future construction of waste incinerators and anaerobic digesters.

Richard Benyon: To qualify for waste infrastructure (WI) credits (formerly private finance initiative credits), local authorities have to demonstrate that their project meets all of DEFRA's WI criteria. DEFRA has allocated WI credits to 32 local authority projects. There are no plans to award WI credits to new projects; DEFRA will honour its obligations in relation to projects that have already had their outline business case approved.
	The Government adopt a technology neutral position to allow for the development of a broad range of technologies. It is local authorities, not central Government, that have the responsibility for deciding how waste is managed in their respective areas. The choice of technology must reflect local circumstances, which will vary, and it is important that any plans for energy from waste facilities emerge out of local waste strategies to ensure the optimisation of reuse, recycling and composting activities.

Work Experience

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2011, Official Report, column 114W, on departmental work experience, how many people (a) worked as an intern, (b) undertook a work experience placement and (c) worked as a volunteer in her Department in accordance with the hiring criteria set out in that answer in the last 12 months for which data are available; and how many such people were employed other than according to those criteria.

Richard Benyon: In the 12 months between 1 March 2011 and 29 February 2012 Core DEFRA employed the following interns:
	Five interns as part of the Fast Stream Summer Diversity Internship Scheme and three interns on the College Level Internship pilot scheme. Both schemes were organised by the Cabinet Office and within the criteria set out in the answer of 17 May 2011.
	Five Sandwich Students. These were recruited through universities that specialise in industrial placements.
	Two students as part of the Year in Industry Scheme run by the Engineering Development Trust.
	Sandwich Students and Year in Industry Scheme students are not within the criteria set out in the answer of 17 May 2011.
	No work experience placements or volunteers were taken on.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Alcoholic Drinks: Advertising

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether he plans to put further restrictions on the advertisement of alcohol.

Edward Vaizey: Advertising in the UK is controlled through a system of co-regulation, with Ofcom, and self-regulation, which is administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). These bodies are independent and they set the standards for all advertising.
	Alcohol advertising is already subject to a range of strict controls. However, as set out in the Government's recently published Alcohol Strategy, we will continue to work closely with the ASA and Ofcom to make sure that the rules on alcohol advertising continue to provide the appropriate levels of consumer protection, especially for children and young people.

Arts

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what plans he has to increase the number of working class families engaging with the arts.

Edward Vaizey: This Department's arm's length funding body, Arts Council England, wants more people to experience and be inspired by the arts, irrespective of where they live or their social, educational or financial circumstances. There are a number of ways it addresses this, including its network of Bridge organisations, a strategic fund to ensure the best work tours around the country, funding through Grants for the Arts, and the contribution of its National Portfolio Organisations.
	In addition, the recently launched Audience Focus fund has offered a consortium led by the Association of British Orchestras £1.1 million over three years to develop Family Friendly Arts. Family Friendly Arts will increase levels of engagement by families and young people through a large scale national programme.

Arts

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what the value of the creative sector is to the economy; how many people are employed in the industry; what proportion of the industry operates in each region; and what the industry spent on its supply chains in the UK in 2011.

Edward Vaizey: The latest “Creative Industries Economic Estimates” bulletin was released in December 2011, in which the contribution to the economy of the creative industries is estimated—covering gross value added (GVA), employment, exports in services and number of businesses.
	The creative industries as a whole were estimated to contribute £36.3 billion, or 2.9%, to the UK's GVA in 2009 and in 2010, employed 1.5 million, or 5.1% of UK employment.
	Regional estimates on the number of creative enterprises can be found in appendix C (page 30) of the full creative industries economic estimates statistical release which is available on the Department's website at this link:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/8682.aspx
	We do not have any information on what the creative industries spend on their supply chains.

Arts

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to support the creative industries and their domestic supply chain.

Edward Vaizey: This Department has a number of measures related to supporting the creative industries. These are described in the Growth Review
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ukecon_growth_index.htm
	and include the creation of a Creative Industries Council to provide a voice for the sector on issues such as finance and skills, the delivery of critical super-fast broadband, and an implementation plan for the release of 500Mhz of public sector spectrum. The Government are also providing relief from taxation on films and, as announced in the March 2012 budget, is committed to relief on taxation on video games, animation and hi-end television from April 2013.

Arts: Charitable Donations

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what progress his Department has made on promoting philanthropy in the arts.

Edward Vaizey: The Department has made good progress on boosting philanthropy in the arts. The Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed in his Budget that our new Cultural Gifts Scheme will incentivise lifetime giving of pre-eminent objects to public collections through reductions in donors' liability for income tax and corporation tax. That is in addition to a reduced rate of inheritance tax for those who leave more than 10% of their estate to a cultural body or charity. This will help to boost legacy giving across the country with effect from 6 April 2012.
	Together with Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, we are investing £100 million in match funding to incentivise philanthropy, and over 80 applications have been received for the Catalyst programme of endowment grants which will unlock donations from philanthropists and provide long-term financial resilience for cultural bodies. Catalyst will also help to strengthen fundraising skills in smaller arts and heritage bodies over the next three years.
	The National Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland recently announced the successful acquisition of Titian's masterpiece Diana and Callisto, thanks in large part to the generosity of private donors. This is just the latest in a succession of significant donations to our cultural bodies. I welcome and commend the generosity of all those who give to the arts in this country. Their support deserves our thanks and appreciation.

Broadband

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent assessment he has made of progress towards targets for greater broadband infrastructure and bandwidth by 2015; and what estimate he has made of the likely effect on the economy of (a) the UK and (b) each region of meeting these targets.

Edward Vaizey: We are making good progress towards our target of ensuring the UK has the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, with 90% of households having access to superfast broadband and a good level of service at 2Mbps for everyone. 24 local broadband plans (over 50%) have been approved and we expect all plans will be approved by the target date of April 2012, and we have set a target for all broadband procurements to be completed by the end of 2012 so that delivery can be complete by 2015. In addition, we are investing £150 million to deliver ultra-fast broadband to up to 20 cities, with the first 10 cities announced in the Budget last week, 21 March 2012, Official Report , columns 793-808. We want the UK to become the technology hub of Europe, and a good communications infrastructure is vital to the growth of the economy. While we do not have figures at a regional level, there is a growing body of evidence of the impact of better networks on the economy. McKinsey report that the digital economy accounts for 23% of all growth and Boston Consulting Group last week estimated that internet-driven business made up 8.3% of the UK's economy, rising to 12.6% by 2016.

Catering

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors in the latest period for which figures are available.

John Penrose: The Department spent a total of £51,295 on refreshments in 2010-11.
	In 2009-10, it was £156,436, and 2008-09, it was £175,796 which includes staff canteen costs.

Culture

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assistance his Department is offering to local authorities on impact assessments of their festivals and cultural event programmes throughout the comprehensive spending review.

Edward Vaizey: In April, Arts Council England will publish guidance for arts and culture organisations on measuring their economic contribution. This guidance will help local authorities, and the organisations they work with, to understand the different approaches towards this type of research. It will provide examples in the form of case studies and signpost people to useful resources.

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

John Penrose: The total cost for the period May 2010 until February 2012 is £3,527.26.
	In 2007-08, the cost was £24,730, in 2008-09 it was £15,025, and in 2009-10, it was £15,027.39.
	We are not able to disaggregate the cost of cut flowers and pot plants as we are charged a total sum that includes provision of both.

Folk Music

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the financial contribution made by folk music to the UK economy;
	(2)  what financial assistance his Department has given to promote folk music in each of the last 10 years.

Edward Vaizey: There has been no direct assessment of the financial contribution made by folk music to the UK economy, however, Arts Council England do support a number of folk organisations and are committed to the growth of the sector.

Heritage Lottery Fund: Consultants

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much the Heritage Lottery Fund has spent on public affairs consultancy firms in the last three years; on which firms; and for what reasons.

Edward Vaizey: Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is a distributor of lottery funding and does not receive Government funding. They have supplied the information in the following table of payments (inclusive of VAT) spent on public affairs consultancy firms in the last three year, and to which firms:
	
		
			  Contractors £ 
			 2009-10 Strategem (Northern Ireland) (1)101,201.89 
			  Positif Politics (Wales) (1)— 
			  Greenhaus (Scotland) (1)— 
			  Blue Rubicon (UK) (1)— 
			  Morgan Allen (Wales) (1)— 
			    
			 2010-11 Strategem (Northern Ireland) (1)48,791.19 
			  Positif Politics (Wales) (1)— 
			  Greenhaus (Scotland) (1)— 
			  Randalls (UK—monitoring only) (1)— 
			    
			 2011-12 Strategem (Northern Ireland) (1)31,807.52 
			  Positif Politics (Wales) (1)— 
			  Greenhaus (Scotland) (1)— 
			  Randalls (UK—monitoring only) (1)— 
			 (1 )Indicates brace 
		
	
	These contractors provide advice and logistical support in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including guidance on how devolved Administrations operate. They also provide parliamentary monitoring services and reporting on the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly and Greater London Assembly.
	In January 2010 HLF decided to bring much of the parliamentary monitoring work in-house to achieve savings.

Intellectual Property

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether his Department has a role in intellectual property policy development.

Edward Vaizey: The overall policy lead for intellectual property is held by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills via the Intellectual Property Office. Many Government Departments have an interest in intellectual property, and the policy making process reflects those interests. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has an interest in copyright in particular, and works closely with the Intellectual Property Office in this area. In addition, DCMS leads on the implementation of measures to address the online infringement of copyright, and similarly works closely with the Intellectual Property Office in that work.

Radio Frequencies

Alun Michael: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if his Department will provide financial assistance for the cost of femtocells to individuals in those areas identified in Appendix C of the Mobile Infrastructure Project where the project fails to improve 2G and 3G coverage.

Edward Vaizey: Femtocells are already being offered by companies at reduced rates where they cannot provide a service. What role they play in the Mobile Infrastructure Project will be become clearer once the procurement begins.

Tourism

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps he is taking to support cross-regional tourist strategies.

John Penrose: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 22 March 2012, Official Report, column 795W.

Video Games: Age

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  if he will consider applying the video game age classification system to mobile applications and online games;
	(2)  what plans he has to review the system for video game classification.

Edward Vaizey: The statutory system for classifying video games has recently been reviewed, and changes to the regime—which will mean that the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system becomes the sole method of classifying video games in the UK—are currently being implemented. For the first time, it will be an offence to supply any aged-rated game for over 12-year-olds to someone who does not meet the age requirement.
	A voluntary ratings system is also in place for online games producers, based on the same PEGI classifications that are used in the off-line world. Many companies already use the PEGI system for their online products and we welcome increased use of this system. This allows parents to make informed choices for their children.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Aerials: Planning Permission

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many planning applications for telecommunications masts in (a) the London Borough of Bexley, (b) London and (c) England were referred to the Planning Inspectorate in each of the last three years; and what proportion received planning permission on appeal.

Bob Neill: The following table shows the number of planning appeals in respect of telecommunication masts, received in the Planning Inspectorate, where an outcome is known for each of the last three calendar years and the proportion of the appeals that were allowed in (a) London borough of Bexley, (b) London and (c) England.
	
		
			   LB of Bexley London England 
			 2009 Number decided 1 25 170 
			  Number allowed 0 12 98 
			  Percentage allowed 0 48 58 
			      
			 2010 Number decided 1 21 87 
			  Number allowed 1 14 53 
			  Percentage allowed 100 67 61 
			      
			 2011 Number decided 2 32 136 
			  Number allowed 1 20 87 
			  Percentage allowed 50 63 64

Community Relations

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how his Department plans to evaluate the success of (a) the Big Lunch and (b) community music days in facilitating integration.

Andrew Stunell: The written ministerial statement, “Creating the Conditions for Integration” made on 21 February 2012, Official Report, column 73WS, sets out the Government's approach to enabling and encouraging integration, including the role of exemplar projects. Specific projects will be monitored and evaluated against each project's objectives. Integration is predominately a local issue which requires a local response, and therefore evaluation is a matter for local areas.

Employment Schemes: Ethnic Groups

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which policies in his Department's (a) Equality Strategy and (b) Social Mobility Strategy he expects to help reduce Black unemployment; and how he plans to measure the effectiveness of each policy.

Andrew Stunell: The Equality Strategy and the Social Mobility Strategy are both cross Government strategies. The priorities of the Department for Communities and Local Government focus on decentralisation and localism. The Department contributes to growth and reducing unemployment, including Black unemployment, by supporting local government, communities and neighbourhoods, through the full range of its policies and programmes.
	We shall be reporting shortly on our review of access to finance for ethnic minority businesses, to promote growth and employment.

Fire Services: South Yorkshire

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department allocates to the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority for the provision of flood rescue in South Yorkshire.

Bob Neill: Central Government funding allocated to the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority is in a flexible form and it is for the authority to decide locally how to support the different services that they provide. In addition, the authority is provided with £76,721. funding for 2011-12, in recognition of the New Dimension assets it holds, some of which could be used as part of the response to flood incidents.

Floods: South Yorkshire

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment his Department has made of the effect on flood rescue in South Yorkshire of changes in funding for the fire and rescue service.

Bob Neill: It is for individual Fire and Rescue Authorities to make local decisions on how to deal with changes to their funding. We believe that the changes can be dealt with by local efficiency measures and frontline services can be protected, so that fire and rescue services can play the necessary role in flood rescue needed locally. National resilience capability, which supports flood rescue locally, is funded through a specific grant; national resilience is not affected by local formula settlements.

Growing Places Fund

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government over what timescale the additional funding for the Growing Places Fund announced in his Budget Statement of 21 March 2012 will be delivered to local enterprise partnerships.

Grant Shapps: The additional funding for the Growing Places Fund will be paid to the accountable local authority, as nominated by each local enterprise partnership, by the 31 March 2012. It will then be for local areas to allocate their funds according to local infrastructure priorities.

Housing: Construction

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the number of homes for which planning permission has been obtained but which have not yet been built in (a) England and (b) Oxfordshire.

Bob Neill: The number of dwellings where permission has been granted but where development had not yet started as at 31 December 2011 is estimated at 229,177 units for England. A breakdown by local authority is not available.
	The source of the data is Glenigan:
	https://www.glenigan.com/
	a private company who supply the Homes and Communities Agency with information on the status of planning applications for internal use. Information from Glenigan is commercially available for a fee.
	The above figure covers “large” schemes which are defined as those with 10 or more units (although some schemes with fewer than 10 units are included which have sufficient value to be classified as “large”). Glenigan does not track smaller schemes beyond planning decision stage.
	The Government are taking a number of steps to help unlock development on sites with planning permission:
	The £570 million Get Britain Building Fund will help get builders back on stalled housing sites with planning permission that have been shut down because of difficulties in accessing development finance;
	We are proposing to allow reconsideration of planning obligations agreed prior to April 2010 where development is stalled. We have already encouraged local authorities to be flexible in reviewing Section 106 agreements:
	The £770 million Growing Places Fund will support infrastructure that unblocks housing and economic growth; and
	The NewBuy Guarantee scheme brings lenders, builders and Government together to offer mortgages on new-build properties with a fraction of the deposit currently required, which in turn will encourage house builders to build more homes.

Housing: Construction

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much under the New Homes Bonus has been received by (a) Richmond-upon-Thames and (b) Kingston-upon-Thames borough since its inception.

Grant Shapps: The New Homes Bonus was introduced in April 2011 to incentivise housing supply. This year we will pay £432 million of New Homes Bonus for local authorities in England.
	A table which sets out the amount of bonus to be paid to local authorities for 2012-13 has been placed in the Library of the House. For 2011-12 to 2012-13, Richmond-upon-Thames will have received £1,117,238. For the same period, Kingston-upon-Thames will have received £1,396,314.

Housing: Rents

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consideration he has given to extending the timetable for rent convergence between local authority housing and registered social landlords beyond 2015-16.

Andrew Stunell: The Government have confirmed their intention to continue with the last Administration's policy of rent restructuring with convergence in 2015-16 and have no plans to change this.
	Rental income assumptions underpin the local authority housing self-financing settlement, which begins on 1 April 2012. This initiative sees the end of the complex and unwieldy housing revenue account subsidy system and returns responsibility for social housing finance, including rents, to local communities.

Intellectual Property

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has a role in intellectual property policy development.

Bob Neill: The overall policy lead for intellectual property is held by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills via the Intellectual Property Office. My Department becomes involved in so far as intellectual property issues require collective ministerial consideration.

Planning Permission: Bournemouth

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many retrospective planning applications were received in each of the last five years in Bournemouth; and of these, how many were granted in each year.

Bob Neill: The Department collects information on planning applications but is not able to determine how many of these are retrospective.

Right to Buy Scheme: Greater London

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the increase of the maximum discount cap for tenants with the right to buy or preserved right to buy, what estimate has been made of the number of cases where this will have the effect of increasing the quantum of the discount claimed by purchases within the Greater London Authority area in the first 12 months of operation.

Grant Shapps: By reinvigorating the Right to Buy we will help more people realise their aspiration of home ownership. The increase in the discount, to £75,000 across England from 2 April 2012, more than quadruples the discount cap in London. The level of discount will depend on the length of tenancy.
	We have not explicitly estimated the number of cases where this will have the effect of increasing the quantum of the discount claimed by purchases within the Greater London Authority area in the first 12 months of operation. However, tenants will benefit from the increased discount.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent staff were employed to tackle benefit fraud in each English local authority in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Bob Neill: The information requested is not held centrally.

Travellers: Finance

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2011, Official Report, column 1131W, on Travellers: finance, if he will list each Traveller group that received funding from the £132,000 of support in 2009-10; how much was given in each case; what funding was given in relation to planning policy or planning applications; and what the purpose was of each grant.

Andrew Stunell: Pursuant to my answer of 9 March 2011, Official Report, column 1131W, the funding provided for the organisation Friends, Families and Travellers was spent by that organisation on supporting Gypsy and Traveller groups in a number of ways, such as raising awareness of mediation techniques among local authorities and other bodies; work to increase civic participation by Travellers: website development; and setting up new Traveller forums.

Urban Areas

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on including as a Portas Pilot an application from one local authority for a single pilot covering multiple towns in a district council area.

Grant Shapps: There is no reason why areas could not work together to submit one Portas Pilot application, if their issues and priorities are shared. In doing so, they would need to convey a single clear vision, leadership and plan and demonstrate their collective commitment.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate Change

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2012, Official Report, column 159W, on climate change, if he will publish copies of the latest estimates made by the Met Office Hadley Centre of the change to global temperatures in each year since 1997.

Gregory Barker: Latest estimates made by the Met Office Hadley Centre of the annual difference in global average surface temperatures, relative to the 1961 to 1990 average of 14.0°C, are shown in the following table for each year since 1997. The data for each year up to 2010 are taken from the latest version (HadCRUT4) of the global temperature dataset maintained by the Met Office Hadley Centre and the Climatic Research Unit.
	The Met Office will be publishing these data in due course, together with the HadCRUT4 data for 2011, once these have been verified. Details of the HadCRUT4 dataset, covering the period 1850 to 2010, have been published in a peer-reviewed paper which is available at
	http://www.agu.org/journals/pip/jd/2011JD017187-pip.pdf
	
		
			  Anomaly (1)  (°C) 95% confidence range 
			 2011 0.35 0.25 to 0.44 
			 2010 0.53 0.45 to 0.63 
			 2009 0.49 0.39 to 0.59 
			 2008 0.38 0.30 to 0.47 
			 2007 0.48 0.39 to 0.57 
			 2006 0.49 0.40 to 0.58 
			 2005 0.53 0.44 to 0.63 
			 2004 0.44 0.35 to 0.53 
			 2003 0.49 0.41 to 0.59 
			 2002 0.49 0.40 to 0.58 
			 2001 0.43 0.35 to 0.52 
			 2000 0.29 0.20 to 0.38 
			 1999 0.30 0.21 to 0.39 
			 1998 0.52 0.44 to 0.61 
			 1997 0.39 0.31 to 0.48 
			 (1 )Anomalies are presented as the temperature difference (degrees Celsius) from the 1961 to 1990 average of 14.0°C.

Electricity Generation: Carbon Emissions

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the evidential basis is for the UK's comments on the EU 2050 Energy Roadmap that for the UK to meet its 2050 targets cost-effectively the electricity sector will need to decarbonise during the 2030s.

Charles Hendry: The evidence for supporting decarbonisation in the power sector was based on MARKAL analysis which informed the Fourth Carbon Budget report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). The MARKAL analysis looked at cost effective paths to decarbonisation to 2050 and concluded the following in relation to the power sector: (i) the quantity of low-carbon electricity required by 2050 (e.g. a possible doubling of supply) implies high rates of low-carbon capacity addition throughout the period to 2050, and therefore implies low-carbon generation by 2030 at a level close to total electricity generation today; (ii) the costs of reducing carbon-intensity in the power sector are generally lower than doing so in other sectors, and the least-cost path towards 2050 is therefore likely to involve early decarbonisation of electricity supply.
	DECCs Carbon Plan report, published in December 2011, set out the Government's view that deep cuts in emissions from the power sector will be required during the 2020s to keep the UK on a cost-effective path to its 2050 goal. The actions outlined in the plan, including the Government's reforms of the electricity market and work to address technology-specific barriers to deployment, will drive the huge increase in investment in low-carbon generation that will enable these cuts to be realised.
	The CCCs Fourth Carbon Budget Report can be found at the following weblink:
	http://www.theccc.org.uk/reports/fourth-carbon-budget
	DECCs Carbon Plan report can be found at the following weblink:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/carbon_plan/carbon_plan.aspx

Electricity: Prices

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent comparison he has made of the cost of electricity to intensive-energy industries in the UK and (a) France and (b) Germany; and if he will publish his findings.

Charles Hendry: DECC publishes Eurostat data on the electricity prices paid by industrial users of various sizes in the EU 15 in its Quarterly Energy Prices publication, available online at:
	http://www.deccgov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/publications/prices/prices.aspx
	Average UK electricity prices (including taxes) for extra large(1) industrial users are higher than those of France and have been lower than those of Germany since the period January to June 2010, see following table:
	
		
			 Average industrial electricity prices for extra large consumers (including taxes), p/kWh 
			  July to December 2007 January to June 2008 July to December 2008 January to June 2009 July to December 2009 January to June 2010 July to December 2010 January to June 2011 
			 UK 5.88 6.82 8.13 8.74 7.71 7.06 6.70 7.24 
			 Germany 5.72 6.66 6.98 7.84 7.64 7.17 7.64 8.79 
			 France 3.50 4.68 4.42 5.43 4.77 5.40 4.62 5.48 
		
	
	On 12 March, the Government launched a call for evidence on the impact of electricity costs on energy intensive industries in the UK to inform implementation of the package of measures announced in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's autumn statement on 29 November 2011, Official Report,columns 799-810, for these industries—available online at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/low-carbon-business-opportunities/energy-intensive-industries
	(1) Extra large industrial electricity users are defined as those consuming 70,000-150,000 MWh of electricity per year. Many UK energy intensive users are above this threshold for electricity. Data for users that consume more than 150,000 MWh a year of electricity are available on the Eurostat website at:
	http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/data/database
	but only for a limited number of countries (including the UK but not France and Germany). It is therefore unclear whether the same comparison above, which applies to users up to the 150,000 MWh threshold will apply to larger users.

Energy Supply: Security

Peter Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether civilian or military protection is provided for (a) conventional power stations, (b) nuclear power stations, (c) offshore oil platforms, (d) offshore wind farms and (e) onshore wind farms.

Charles Hendry: The owners and operators of conventional power stations are responsible for the protection of their assets, working with their local police force.
	The Civil Nuclear Constabulary established under the Energy Act of 2004 provides a dedicated on-site armed response capability for designated civil nuclear sites and during the transport of civil nuclear material.
	A number of security measures are adopted by the operators of offshore platforms and these have been reviewed by Her Majesty's Government in the light of the importance of these facilities.
	DECC is not aware of any civilian or military protection of wind farms. Any security or protection arrangements would ultimately be the responsibility of the developer.
	For national security reasons it would be inappropriate to comment in detail on arrangements for the civilian or military protection of these facilities however security is kept under review in the light of the prevailing threat level.

Energy: EU Action

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consideration he has given to the letter dated 23 February 2012 from the coalition of eight European energy companies on binding 2030 targets for renewable energy, energy efficiency and carbon reduction; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The UK is at the forefront of ambition on tackling climate change and giving long term certainty to the market. At home our carbon budgets commit us in law to a 50% cut in emissions by 2027, on the way to 80% by 2050. Our energy strategy aims to achieve this, keep the lights on and keep the impacts on consumer bills as low as possible.
	We strongly believe the market should be allowed to continue to drive down costs for consumers. The electricity market reforms we are putting in place are designed to bring forward the most cost-effective mix of low carbon generation.
	This approach should also be reflected at the European level. For these reasons the UK welcomed the European Commission's 2050 Energy Roadmap as a stimulus for the EU and member states to develop policies to secure a transition to a low carbon economy consistent with the EU's 2050 targets. We also welcome the prospect of a debate on the post 2020 EU low carbon regulatory framework foreshadowed in the Roadmap and supported by Commission communications on renewables and market design later this year.

Food

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of food procured by his Department (a) meets the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering and (b) is from British sources.

Gregory Barker: DECC receives its catering services through a contract procured by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, my right hon. Friend the Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Mr Paice) on 22 March 2012, Official Report, columns 807-08W.

Green Deal Scheme

Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to publish his Department's response to the Green Deal and energy company obligation consultations.

Gregory Barker: We still expect, subject to Parliament, to have Green Deal and ECO legislation on the statute book by the summer recess so that the legal framework is there to underpin the Green Deal in October. To this end, we currently expect to publish the Government's response to the Green Deal and energy company obligation consultations in June 2012.

McKinsey and Company

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department paid to McKinsey and Company in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: DECC has not made any payments to McKinsey in 2010-11 or to date in 2011-12.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the potential effects on the feed-in tariff scheme of introducing (a) an under-deployment mechanism and (b) a community energy tariff.

Gregory Barker: The Government are currently consulting on proposals for a number of changes to the feed-in tariffs (FITs) scheme, including a contingent degression mechanism and options for how community installations might be defined and treated. These proposals do not currently include an under-deployment mechanism or a specific community energy tariff (though it seeks views on the latter), so no assessment has been made of the potential effects of such mechanisms.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his estimate is of the annual income from the feed-in tariff required for a household with solar PV installed prior to 12 December 2011 in order to achieve a 15 per cent. return on their investment.

Gregory Barker: In the impact assessment supporting the current consultation on solar PV cost control, available at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/fits-review/4320-feedin-tariffs-review-phase-2a-draft-impact-asses.pdf
	we estimate that an April 2012 reference installation of 2.6 kW or receiving the pre-consultation generation tariff of 43.3 p/kWh would achieve a return of 15% based on our central cost assumptions. We calculate that its annual generation tariff income would be around £960 and that its annual export tariff income would be around £35 (assuming 50% of electricity produced was used onsite). As well as direct FITs income, an installation will have other income streams which feed into the return calculation (bills savings, post-tariff revenue). For more details on DECC’s methodology for calculating returns is available at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/consultation/fits-comp-review-p1/3742-explanation-rate-return-calc-domestic-pv.pdf
	DECC is collecting evidence to update its cost estimates to support the Government response to the current consultation on solar PV cost control, available at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/fits-review/4309-feedin-tariffs-scheme-phase-2a-consultation-paper.pdf
	The consultation closes on 3 April.

Solar Power

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his estimate is of the average cost of a 4 kilowatt solar installation in England excluding the purchase cost of the solar panels.

Gregory Barker: DECC published an updated assessment of solar PV costs in January 2012, prepared for DECC by the engineering consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff. This update estimates the installed costs for PV systems of different sizes, including how costs are split between PV modules, inverters, other components, and installation and project costs.
	The report is available on the DECC website at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/meeting-energy-demand/renewable-energy/4290-solar-pv-cost-update-report--3-feb-2012-.pdf
	DECC is collecting evidence to update its cost estimates to support the Government response to the current consultation on solar PV cost control, available at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/Consultations/fits-review/4309-feedin-tariffs-scheme-phase-2a-consultation-paper.pdf
	The consultation closes on 3 April.

TRANSPORT

Air Traffic Control

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the effects of levels of pollution and fuel use of stacking at UK airports; what steps she plans to take to reduce stacking; and if she will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: We support the Civil Aviation Authority’s Future Airspace Strategy, a key aim of which is to reduce the environmental impact of aviation at all stages of flight. This includes the objective to reduce significantly the amount of time which aircraft hold before they land.

Aviation: Hertfordshire

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations she has received on the Helioslough applications for development of the former Radlett aerodrome site; what representations she or Ministers in her Department have made on this matter; and what meetings she or Ministers in her Department have held on this matter.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 8 March 2012
	The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), has had no meetings or discussions about the Helioslough application.
	On 12 May 2011, I met the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill), to discuss general planning issues related to strategic rail freight interchanges at which the Radlett application was mentioned. This followed a conversation I had with the Minister about rail freight interchanges and the Radlett proposal which took place in Parliament in the autumn of 2010.
	In a private capacity, I had lunch on 10 August 2011 with Simon Hoare of Community Connect Ltd who is retained by Helioslough Ltd and the matters we discussed included the Radlett proposal. On 10 November 2011 my office received an e-mail from Simon Hoare with a document attached entitled "Radlett SRFI—The economic benefits" which was passed to policy officials in the Department to respond to. The document was not passed on to ministerial colleagues in the Department for Transport or the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	The Helioslough application is currently subject to a planning appeal which has been called in for determination by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles). The Secretary of State for Transport is not a party to this determination but, at the invitation of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, did submit a “Rule 11” statement of case setting out current Government policy on strategic rail freight interchanges.

Aviation: Working Hours

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will negotiate an opt-out for the UK from the European Aviation Safety Agency proposals to change the flight time limitations for flight crew.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 19 March 2012
	Opt outs from the proposed implementing rules on flight time limitations are not permitted by the enabling legislation, adopted in 2008.

Driving Offences: Insurance

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what policies she is pursuing to reduce the incidence of uninsured vehicles on the road in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) England and Wales; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The policies, which are not determined by county, to reduce uninsured driving are:
	(a) Enforcing action against offenders who keep a vehicle without insurance, known as the continuous insurance enforcement scheme (CIE). This has been enforced since last June;
	(b) Tackling fraud by working with the insurance industry to allow them access to DVLA driver details on penalty points and disqualifications.
	The Government are also concerned that the rising cost of insurance may tempt motorists to drive uninsured and are working closely with the insurance industry on measures which will help reduce premiums. An industry summit was held on 14 February on the cost of insurance.

Driving Under Influence

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 8 December 2011, Official Report, columns 56-8WS, on court notification of drink-drive offences, what progress she is making on her investigation into the sharing of data between the police, courts and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Michael Penning: Since my statement to the House, significant progress has been made in introducing safeguards to the data sharing arrangements between the police, courts and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
	These safeguards, which were introduced in December 2011, now prevent court notifications being processed for drink driving offences unless they contain a valid alcohol reading.
	Substantial progress has also been made in identifying the drivers affected by the problem and arranging for them to undertake the necessary medical examination. Only a small number of cases remain outstanding.

DVLA

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had on plans to move DVLA data services offshore.

Michael Penning: There are no plans to move DVLA data storage services off-shore or for DVLA data services to be run from abroad.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will ask High Speed 2 to publish the study of the adequacy of the capacity of the single track scheme referred to in her Department's White Paper.

Justine Greening: HS2 Ltd has reviewed these issues following the consultation, and on the basis of this analysis, my assessment is that the link provides sufficient capacity to meet likely demand for the foreseeable future across all rail service types. HS2 Ltd's findings are presented in the “Review of Possible Refinements to the Proposed HS2 London to West Midlands Route”.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to her Department's publication, Economic Case for HS2, January 2012, what the projected change is in the (a) capacity and (b) frequency of intercity rail services compared to existing services.

Justine Greening: As was set out in the Department's publications in January, HS2 trains will have up to 1,100 seats, which is more than double the maximum capacity of intercity rolling stock currently in operation. HS2 will be able to carry up to 18 trains per hour.
	Depending on the rolling stock configurations and service specifications ultimately implemented on the existing network and on the HS2 Y network, it would be possible to approximately double current levels of intercity rail capacity serving the cities of the midlands and the north.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reason high speed rail services from London to Liverpool will take 40 minutes longer than the London to Manchester journey.

Justine Greening: HS2 services to Liverpool will provide substantial improvements in capacity and journey times. The journey time quoted in the January 2012 publications reflects only one possible configuration for the network north of the west midlands. The final journey times to Liverpool and Manchester will depend upon a range of issues—including the route for Phase 2.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the Carbon Plan, when her Department will publish the review of its strategy to support transition from early ultra-low emission vehicle market to mass market.

Norman Baker: On 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 38WS, I announced that the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk), and I had reviewed the case for the Plug-In Car Grant, and concluded that there remains a strong case for the grant and therefore decided to extend the incentive to include vans and also to continue the Plug-In Car Grant at the current level out to 2015.

Office of Rail Regulation

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department has carried out a regulatory impact assessment on the proposal in its command paper entitled Reforming the railways: putting the customer first to move responsibility for issues such as monitoring of passenger complaints handling processes to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) and explore the potential to give the ORR a role in relation to train operator performance; and if she will publish the conclusions of any such assessment.

Theresa Villiers: The Command Paper and the consultation document “A greater role for ORR regulating passenger franchisees in England & Wales” set out a number of options for the transfer of responsibilities from the Department for Transport to the Office of Rail Regulation. The Department and the ORR have not carried out an impact assessment at this stage. Once we have considered consultation responses and developed a more definitive package of proposals, we will develop impact assessments for any proposed transfer.

Pay

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions she has had on the introduction of regional pay in her Department.

Norman Baker: The Department is still considering its plans on reform of pay arrangements in light of the recently issued civil service pay guidance for 2012-13. This process takes place every year and departmental officials will begin consultation with the TUS in each of the Agencies and DFT(c) in the coming months.

Railway Stations: Parking

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action she is taking to ensure that railway stations have adequate car parking capacity to encourage more long distance commuters.

Theresa Villiers: As part of individual franchising competitions, the Department expects bidders to consider investment in additional car parking spaces where utilisation and demand is high and capacity constraints exist in order to grow patronage and revenue.
	A number of recent franchise competitions have demonstrated commercial cases for development of such schemes and have led to increases in the number of car parking spaces offered.
	In addition, the £100 million Station Commercial Project Facility is designed to support commercially focused projects at stations across England, including car parking facilities, in the period up to 2014.

Railways: Northumberland

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what (a) consideration she has given to and (b) plans she has drawn up for a Northumbia rail franchise.

Theresa Villiers: On 8 March 2012 the Government initiated consultation on further decentralisation of rail powers in England. It invites expressions of interest from sub-national bodies in taking over responsibilities for rail franchising, which currently rest with central Government.

Traffic Penalty Tribunal

James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the process is for the appointment of the Chief Adjudicator at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal;
	(2)  whether her Department provides training to staff at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal on dealing with correspondence from hon. Members;
	(3)  whether her Department has made any contributions towards the pension fund of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal in the last five years;
	(4)  whether staff salaries at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal have been frozen in line with Government policy on public sector pay;
	(5)  what information her Department holds on the salaries of staff at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal;
	(6)  whether her Department has conducted a recent review of the effectiveness of the Traffic Penalties Tribunal; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The Traffic Penalty Tribunal is a fully independent body established under statute. Under the legislation the arrangements for providing adjudication are agreed by a joint committee of councils that operate civil parking and bus lane enforcement, and who also jointly agree, with the Lord Chancellor, the appointment of adjudicators. The Department for Transport has no role in either the funding or operation of the tribunal under the legislation.

Transport: Further Education

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of students (a) cycle, (b) walk, (c) take public transport and (d) are driven in a private car to (i) further education and (ii) sixth form colleges in England in each local authority area.

Norman Baker: Figures at national level are available from the Department's National Travel Survey for travel to or from educational establishments for those aged 16, 17, and 18. The latest figures are presented in the following table.
	
		
			 Trips for education purposes (1)  by individuals aged 16 to 18 by main mode: England, 2009-10 (2) 
			 Main mode Proportion of trips (percentage) 
			 Walk 23 
			 Bicycle 3 
			 Car/van 25 
			 Private bus 6 
			 Local bus 34 
			 Surface rail 5 
			 Other(3) 4 
			 Unweighted sample size: individuals aged 16 to 18 730 
			 (1 )Excludes long distance journeys (greater than 50 miles). (2 )Two surveys years combined (2009 and 2010) for a larger sample size. (3 )All other modes of transport. 
		
	
	The Department for Education has published school level information on mode of travel to school as at January 2011. The data identifies the local authority area within which each school lies, and includes information on the travel patterns of pupils aged 16 and over. However, institutions other than schools (e.g. further education colleges or stand-alone sixth form colleges) are not included.
	This information is contained within the Department for Education report “Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, January 2011” which is available for download at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00196810/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2

JUSTICE

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been convicted of each type of crime related to alcohol duty fraud in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not all the specific circumstances of each case. From centrally held data it is not possible to separately identify specific offences related to alcohol duty fraud from other offences of fraudulently evading duty on goods under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and under the Licensing Act 2003 the keeping of goods without payment of duty.
	From information available centrally there have been no reports of convictions in England and Wales from 2006 to 2010 under the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 for offences of buying or possessing spirit known to have been removed unlawfully from storage before duty has been paid.
	The latest currently available data on court proceedings cover the period to the end of 2010. Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication on 24 May 2012.

Debt Collection: Regulation

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department is taking steps to address the concerns raised by the Financial Ombudsman Service on the risk to consumers of a double disadvantage when using claims management companies.

Jonathan Djanogly: Consumers considering using the services of claims management companies (“CMCs”) should be in a position to make an informed choice about whether the service they are being offered is suitable for them and provided on appropriate terms. CMCs are required to give consumers clear, honest, comprehensive and objective information about the options available for pursing their claims, and the associated costs and risks involved. The Claims Management Regulation Unit will investigate and take enforcement action as appropriate against any CMCs that adopt poor business practices, particularly those which take advantage of consumers. Enforcement action taken can range from warnings, restrictions on CMC licences, suspension or cancellation of licences.

Fraud: Social Security Benefits

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the highest number was of previous convictions for social security benefit fraud for an individual convicted of an offence of social security benefit fraud without being sent to prison in each of the last three years; and how many offences they had committed at the point of sentence for the most recent offence.

Crispin Blunt: The following table shows the highest number of previous convictions for social security benefit fraud for individuals convicted of this offence in the years 2008 to 2010 who received a sentence other than immediate custody. The three individuals who had, respectively, 10, 17 and 12 convictions for benefit fraud had all of these offences dealt with on one sentencing occasion. It also shows the total number of previous offences for any offence at the point of sentence and the number of previous immediate custodial sentences for any offence. The figures provided cover social security benefit fraud under section 13 of the Social Security Administration Fraud Act 1997.
	These figures have been drawn from the police's administrative IT system, the police national computer, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.
	
		
			 The highest number of previous convictions for social security benefit fraud, for an individual convicted of this offence without being sent to prison, in England and Wales in the years 2008 to 2010 
			  2008 2009 2010 
			 Number of previous convictions for social security benefit fraud 10 11 12 
			 Number of previous cautions and convictions for any offence at time of conviction 12 22 23 
			 Number of previous immediate custodial sentences for any offence at time of conviction 1 11 0

Mass Media

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what media monitoring services his Department has purchased in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Media Monitoring Unit has provided the media monitoring services to the Ministry of Justice in each of the last five financial years, the period between April 2007 and March 2012.
	The Department has also used the press cutting services provided by Durrants and Precise during the same period. In common with other Government Departments of a similar size, the Ministry of Justice monitors a wide range of media to ensure Government policy is reported accurately and inaccuracies are rebutted.

DEFENCE

Criminal Investigations

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the recent transfer of criminal investigations from his Department's Police Criminal Investigations Department to the Home Department; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Robathan: I will be making a written statement tomorrow that will explain our proposals for the MOD police criminal investigation department. The proposals will then be the subject of consultation with the staff associations and trade unions concerned, and with other key stakeholders including the Home Office.

Afghanistan

Amber Rudd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role UK troops will play in Afghanistan after 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Hammond: By the end of 2014, UK forces will not be serving in Afghanistan in a combat role and there will not be anything like the number of British troops that are there now.
	However, we are clear that our long-term commitment to Afghanistan will last well beyond 2014. As part of our enduring legacy we have already made a commitment to UK troops supporting the development of the Afghan national security forces by providing training at the new Afghan national army officer academy. No further decisions have yet been made about any other longer-term residual presence. It is likely that some troops will remain in a non-combat role for a period of some months after completion of security transition at the end of 2014 to finalise our logistics draw-down.

Afghanistan

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress he has made on plans for the withdrawal of UK armed forces from Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Hammond: As the Prime Minister has said, UK force levels in Afghanistan will reduce from 9,500 to 9,000 by the end of 2012. By the end of 2014 British troops will no longer be in a combat role and will not be in Afghanistan in anything like the numbers they are now.
	The Prime Minister has made clear that there should not be a “cliff-edge” reduction to our force levels in 2014. Planning continues, in conjunction with ISAF allies, to consider our force trajectory through to the conclusion of transition at the end of 2014.
	The UK and the international community are committed to Afghanistan for the long term, and some UK troops will remain after 2014. The UK has already committed to a long-term training role with its leadership of the Afghan national army officer academy.

Afghanistan

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role UK troops will play in Afghanistan after 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Hammond: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier today to my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Amber Rudd).

Afghanistan

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  on how many occasions there have been mechanical failures with (a) C17 aircraft and (b) transport aircraft en-route to Afghanistan since May 2010;
	(2)  on how many occasions there have been mechanical failures with transport aircraft during a trip to Afghanistan which has resulted in delay of the journey since May 2010;
	(3)  on how many occasions a fuel tank has been dumped from a military transport aircraft during a journey to Afghanistan; and for what reason on each such occasion;
	(4)  on how many occasions Tristar aircraft travelling to Afghanistan have experienced an air leak which has grounded the aircraft since May 2010.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 19 March 2012
	Air leaks or the need to dump fuel in flight are rare occurrences. The detailed information requested for unserviceabilities on airbridge flights that occurred after departure from RAF Brize Norton is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Any delays to the airbridge are regrettable, but we must recognise the difficult circumstances in which it operates, transporting large volumes of personnel, equipment and supplies under operational conditions. In many cases, engineers are able to rectify unserviceabilities quickly or, to minimise the overall delay, another airframe may be substituted to undertake the task.

Conflict Prevention

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to support conflict prevention; and if he will make a statement.

Gerald Howarth: Together with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence is a full partner in the Government’s building stability overseas strategy which aims to address instability and conflict overseas. We have been equally involved in its implementation and all work to date, including in such places as Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan.
	We are also working closely with the FCO in the development of our defence engagement strategy. As well as ensuring that the MOD contributes effectively to the building stability overseas strategy, it will set out how we will prioritise our defence diplomacy activities and contribute to the Government’s wider objectives overseas.

Children: Service Personnel

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to support the children of service personnel.

Andrew Robathan: As part of our commitment to the armed forces covenant, the Ministry of Defence has taken major steps to support children of service personnel including appointing a director of children and young people to work closely across Government and with external organisations to provide direction, co-ordination and cohesion in this important area.
	In the past year we have delivered a range of initiatives across Government specifically targeted at supporting service children including the delivery of a scheme to provide scholarships to bereaved service children.
	For the children of those currently serving we have introduced with the Department for Education, the pupil premium which is paid to schools at a rate of £200 per child to help them provide additional support to service children. This amounted to some £9 million for 2011-12 and will rise to £11 million in 2012-13, with the increase in the rate to £250 per child.
	In addition, we have set up a new fund of £3 million per year which is available to state schools and academies with service children, including those of reservists, to help mitigate the impact of mobility and deployment within the armed forces. I recently visited Alderman Pounder School in Nottingham, which has received a £50,000 grant under the scheme.
	We continue to explore what more we can do.

Trident

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the study on alternatives to Trident to be completed.

Nick Harvey: The Trident alternatives review is expected to report to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister at the end of this year.

Syria

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with his NATO counterparts on defence policy on Syria.

Philip Hammond: There have been no formal ministerial discussions between NATO Defence Ministers on defence policy on Syria; however, I do discuss defence and security related issues with my NATO counterparts and others on a routine basis.

Armed Forces

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department has taken to ensure extremist political groups have not accessed and influenced the armed forces and cadet forces.

Nick Harvey: The threat from extremist groups is kept under review by Government. Regular and reserve service personnel are prohibited from participating actively in political organisations, are subject to recruitment and national security vetting checks, and are exposed to a continuing process of education and training which enhances security awareness and reinforces the services' core values and standards.

Armed Forces: Accommodation

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for additional funding for forces' accommodation (a) nationally and (b) in Northumberland.

Andrew Robathan: The Government have just announced £100 million of further investment in financial year 2013-14. This will be used to deliver new and refurbished single living and service family accommodation, essential work to prepare vacant homes for occupation in areas of high demand and the purchase of new homes in such areas.
	It is currently too early to say what the implications will be for accommodation in Northumberland.

Defence Equipment and Support

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to publish Bernard Gray's proposals for reforms to Defence Equipment and Support.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with which companies the Chief of Defence Materiel has had discussions on the future of the Defence Equipment and Support organisation.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence is committed to improving the performance of Defence Equipment and Support through the Materiel Strategy. The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), explained in his written ministerial statement of 1 March 2012, Official Report, columns 39-41WS, that we have asked the Chief of Defence Materiel (CDM) to examine options for increasing the role of the private sector in Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).
	This analysis is still ongoing. CDM and his officials continue to engage widely with all stakeholder groups, including the private sector. Our records show that over the last year discussions with industry have occurred across a variety of forums including industry days, workshops and individual discussions, and with more than 140 companies. I will write to the hon. Members with the information requested. In addition, DE&S has now begun a soft market testing exercise to obtain the market's view and explore the potential roles for the private sector in DE&S.
	No decisions have been taken about the future status of DE&S. Ministers will review the options in light of this further work and intend to make a decision on which to take forward later this year.

HMS Vengeance: HMS Vanguard

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether the contract to refit and refuel HMS Vengeance has been signed by the contractor;
	(2)  how many days in advance of Vanguard submarines arriving in Devonport for refuelling and refit the contract for that work was formally signed off.

Peter Luff: holding answer 15 March 2012
	The Ministry of Defence has today announced the Long Overhaul Period (Refuelling) (LOP(R)) of HMS Vengeance. This is an essential activity to ensure that she can operate for the remainder of her service life. This £350 million contract will support 2,000 UK jobs.
	The following table provides details of the scheduling information requested, for the Vanguard Class submarines and their LOP(R).
	
		
			 Vanguard Class submarine Arrival in Devonport Date work commenced Contract for LOP(R) signed Number of days between arrival and LOP(R) contract signature 
			 HMS Vanguard 3 February 2002 22 February 2002 21 May 2002 107 
			 HMS Victorious 16 January 2005 17 January 2005 5 April 2005 79 
			 HMS Vigilant 11 October 2008 14 October 2008 5 February 2009 117 
			 HMS Vengeance 2 March 2012 5 March 2012 2 March 2012 0 
		
	
	Although work to prepare some of the submarines commenced prior to the LOP(R) contracts being signed formally, this work was covered commercially by the existing dockyard sale agreement and its supporting enabling arrangements.

Major Projects Review Board

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much the Major Projects Review Board has saved since it was established.

Peter Luff: The Major Projects Review Board was set up in 2011 to give Ministers the opportunity to review the Ministry of Defence’s major programmes on a quarterly basis and ensure that they are on time and on budget. Since its inception in 2011, the Major Projects Review Board has directed action in a number of cases that has led to financial settlements that have reduced the cost to the Department. I am withholding the information as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Ministry of Defence Police Criminal Investigation Department: Public Finance

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the Ministry of Defence Police Criminal Investigation Department; and how much money was recovered by the Ministry of Defence Police Criminal Investigation Department in each of the last five years.

Andrew Robathan: The operating cost of the Ministry of Defence Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in 2010-11 was £10,144 million. The following table shows the monies recovered (through confiscation, compensation, cash seizure and asset recovery) by the CID in each of the last five years.
	
		
			 Financial year Total (£) 
			 2006-07 420,636 
			 2007-08 2,359,264 
			 2008-09 632,344 
			 2009-10 1,146,424 
			 2010-11 596,175

Royal Navy: Redundancy

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of each rank in the Royal Navy have (a) been made redundant compulsorily and (b) taken voluntary redundancy in the last period for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: 990 Royal Navy personnel have been made compulsorily redundant. This comprises 670 applicants and 320 non-applicants. Applicants are due to leave the service by 31 March 2012 and non-applicants by 30 September 2012.
	
		
			 Royal Navy Rank Applicant Non Applicant Total 
			 Commander 20 — 20 
			 Lieutenant Commander 20 10 30 
			 Lieutenant 20 10 30 
			 Warrant Officer 10 — 10 
			 Chief Petty Officer 140 — 140 
			 Petty Officer 90 10 100 
			 Leading Hand 30 20 50 
			 Able Seaman 2/1 340 270 610 
			 Total 670 320 990 
		
	
	These figures do not include Royal Marines.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Catering

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: The Home Office has spent £214,059,72 on complimentary refreshments for staff and visitors during the period April 2011 to January 2012. Records do not split the information between staff and visitors.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost is of the contract between the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and BAE System Detica.

Damian Green: The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) does not have a contract with BAE Systems Detica. However, Detica is a Strategic Partner to CEOP, providing on a pro bono basis data technologies which enhance the speed and efficiency of CEOP's work to safeguard children and apprehend offenders.
	The value of this pro bono support in the financial year 2010-11 was £476,123.41. All of CEOP's partnerships comply with the Centre's relationship management strategy, which is available on
	www.ceop.police.uk
	CEOP's partnership activity is overseen by an independently chaired relationship management group.

Cybercrime

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2012, Official Report, column 569W, on cybercrime, what definition her Department uses of cybercrime; and whether that definition is used by (a) other Government departments and (b) the Attorney-General.

James Brokenshire: The Government's Cyber Security Strategy made clear that there are crimes which only exist in the digital world, in particular those that target the integrity of computer networks and online systems. However, cyber space is also used to commit crimes such as theft and fraud, often on an industrial scale. The internet has provided new opportunities for those who seek to exploit children and the vulnerable.
	As the Solicitor-General's answer of 19 March 2012, Official Report, column 437W stated, there is no offence of cyber crime in law. Offences involving illegal access to computer systems may be prosecuted under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, but many other offences committed online would be prosecuted under legislation dealing with the substantive offence, such as fraud.

Immigration Controls

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times e-passport gates have broken down in the last 12 months.

Damian Green: ePassport Gates were reported as faulty or broken down on 535 occasions between February 2011 and January 2012. This compares with 694 occasions between February 2010 and January 2011.
	These reported fault figures reflect various levels of severity. In the majority of cases where a fault has meant the closure of a gate the resilience of having a bank of up to five gates allows the other gates to continue to operate, thereby continuing to offer an automated clearance option to eligible passengers.

Missing Persons: West Midlands

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been reported as missing in the West Midlands since May 2010; and what proportion have not yet been found.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 15 March 2012
	Data obtained directly from the west midlands police force in response to this question indicate that from 1 May 2010 until 13 March 2012, 21,961 missing persons reports have been created. However, this is not necessarily 21,961 individual missing people as some individuals are reported missing on more than one occasion.
	Of this number, 43 cases are currently active missing people investigations (i.e. people currently reported missing and police are pursuing active lines of inquiry to trace them) and 57 are inactive cases. Inactive cases are where the person has not been found and there are no current active investigations, although each inactive case is subject to an annual review. The Missing Persons Bureau obtains specific data on individual missing person cases on a day-to-day basis and obtains anonymised data quarterly on all missing persons reported to the police. As a consequence, the precise information required to answer this question is not currently held centrally.
	The data were obtained from an operational system and are therefore provisional and subject to further quality assurance checks.

Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what assessment she has made of the effect upon not-for-profit organisations providing immigration services, if the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner becomes self-funding and imposes a licence-fee upon registered organisations;
	(2)  if she will give the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner the power to make unannounced audit visits;
	(3)  if she will give the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) the power to rescind registration of OISC organisations at any time, rather than at the dates of their continued registration;
	(4)  if she will give the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner the power to deregister a business;
	(5)  if she will give the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner the power to suspend immigration advisers pending the outcome of investigations into criminal activities;
	(6)  if she will give the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner the power to authorise supervision of individuals who have had their registration revoked.

Damian Green: The role of the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) was reviewed in 2011 as part of the public bodies review. The conclusion reached was that the services provided by the OISC are best delivered in their current form. The options for enhancing the way in which the OISC regulates immigration advisers will be kept under review.

Passports

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to consult on the removal of gender markers from passports.

Damian Green: The “Advancing Transgender Equality —A Plan for Action” published by the Home Office on 8 December 2011 set out the Department's commitment to review how gender identification is represented in passport application forms and passports. The Home Office is engaging with international partners on the security and personal safety implications of gender displayed in the passport as part of the normal process of working with partners to ensure that the British passport holder is able to travel freely, securely and without hindrance. The Home Office will contact key stakeholders in the UK in the light of the outcome of discussions.

Passports: Databases

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to Article 3 of EU Council Common Position 2005/69/JHA, with how many EU member states the UK exchanges present and future passport data.

Damian Green: The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) does not share this data directly with any EU member state. The IPS provides lost and stolen passport data to Interpol via the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) on a daily basis, to assist with the international policing of borders. This arrangement has been in place since 2004. In accordance with Article 3, SOCA only shares the information with other Interpol members that ensure an adequate level of protection. This data is set out in Article 2. Only the passport number, lost and stolen reference and issue date are provided.

Private Investigators

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many private investigators have been hired by her Department in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: The Home Office including its Executive agencies has not contracted with private investigators in the last five years.

Proceeds of Crime: EU Action

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the UK has fully enacted the provisions of EU Council Decision 2005/222/JHA; and what assessment her Department has made of its effectiveness in tackling attacks against information systems.

James Brokenshire: The UK has enacted the provisions of the Decision mostly through existing domestic legislation such as the Computer Misuse Act. The UK did not apply the discretionary provision under Article 10 (1)(b) regarding extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) by nationality.
	The UK must decide, no later than 31 May 2014, whether to accept full European Court of Justice jurisdiction over those EU police and criminal justice measures adopted before 1 December 2009 which have not been amended or replaced. This measure falls within the scope of that decision and will be reviewed accordingly.

UK Border Force

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the likely cost to the public purse will be of her plan to split the UK Border Agency and the UK Border Force.

Damian Green: There will be no additional costs to the public purse.

UK Border Force

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where the head office of the UK Border Force will be.

Damian Green: The interim director-general of Border Force is based in the Home Office HQ at 2 Marsham street, London.

UK Border Force

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what operational responsibilities she plans that the National Border Command under the National Crime Agency will have.

Damian Green: As part of the new National Crime Agency (NCA), the Border Policing Command will be a vital part of the Government’s wider approach to delivering increased security at the border. It will take the lead in making the UK border a hostile and uncompromising environment for those who seek to evade or exploit it and bring harm to our communities.
	The Border Policing Command will take the lead—bringing a controlling hand to border security—to deliver better, more joined up enforcement activity. It will generate intelligence about cross border crime and threats to national security, collecting and joining up multiple strands of intelligence to expose opportunities and previously unknown threats. It will deliver a single agreed picture of the threats to public safety and security to enable agencies to have an agreed view of the ways in which the border is being exploited and what needs addressing. It will drive all law enforcement agencies operating in and around the border to work together by prioritising action, allocating ownership and accountability, by tasking and co-ordinating the NCA’s own resources and wider law enforcement assets to have the greatest impact. It will also build relations with overseas law enforcement agencies enabling early intervention against criminals and terrorists who target the UK enforcement response.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Apprentices: Remploy

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether, if a suitable business case could be demonstrated, Remploy factory sites would be allowed to recruit apprentices.

Maria Miller: Policies on recruitment of apprentices is the responsibility of Remploy as a NDPB. Any recruitment business cases from Remploy that demonstrate the need to appoint apprentices are considered on their merits.
	You will now be aware of my announcement on 7 March 2012 regarding the Government's intention to support the implementation of the Sayce Review recommendations. It is therefore not appropriate for me to comment further on any Remploy factory related issues at this time.

Asylum: Finance

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assistance is available to people who are granted refugee status, with particular reference to housing; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: People seeking asylum in the UK are supported by the Home Office and not allowed to work or claim benefits until their application is considered and a decision made by the UK Border Agency (UKBA). Once they have a positive decision granting them leave to remain in the UK, they receive refugee status.
	Those granted refugees status are eligible to be considered for social housing and homelessness assistance. Where they apply for social housing or homelessness assistance, they will have their housing needs considered on the same basis as other eligible applicants.
	The Localism Act 2011 gives local councils the power to set their own qualification criteria for social housing. Councils are able to operate a more focused waiting list which better reflects local circumstances.
	Refugees have full employment rights and become eligible for the whole range of Department for Work and Pensions benefits as well as support to help them move into work where appropriate including access to the Work programme, subject to normal eligibility conditions.
	Jobcentre Plus advisers will work with refugees to plan a route into employment, tailoring the support accordingly to meet the individual's needs and signposting them to other relevant programmes such as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses.

Council Tax Benefits

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households with persons under the age of 65 years in receipt of council tax benefit in each local authority area contain (a) at least one disabled person and (b) at least one adult with caring responsibilities.

Steve Webb: The requested information is not available.

Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what procedures the provider assurance team follows during its reviews of contracted providers on the mandatory work activity scheme.

Chris Grayling: The main aim of the Provider Assurance Team is to review and test the internal control systems of the provider to establish how effective they are in managing risk to DWP in relation to Contracted Employment Provision (CEP) expenditure and data security. The review includes all the programmes delivered under CEP and looks for evidence that the provider has systems in place to manage key risks. These key risks are broken down into four scope areas (Governance Arrangements, Service Delivery, Financial Procedures and Data Security) and the process will examine the controls in place within the organisation and test how effective they are in managing the risks identified.

Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason Work programme contracts include clauses on maintaining commercial confidentiality and programme reputation which prevent providers from making public comments; and what contracts for previous employment programmes operated by his Department included such clauses.

Chris Grayling: It is normal standard practice for all DWP contracts to include clauses covering commercial confidentiality and publicity. This has been the case for programmes under both the current and previous Government. The clauses protect the Department's commercial position and reputation in ensuring all publicity is subject to prior approval by the Department. In meeting their contractual obligations suppliers must not do anything which may damage, bring into disrepute the reputation of the Department nor attract adverse publicity which could ultimately harm the confidence of the public.
	The Work programme contracts include clauses on maintaining commercial confidentially and programme reputation. Previous employment programme contracts did not include the Work programme clauses as they where developed for the Employment Related Support Services (ERSS) framework launched in January 2011. The clauses have since been used in all employment programme contracts that have been called off from this framework, i.e. Work programme, European Social Fund, Mandatory Work Activity and Community Action Programme.

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

Chris Grayling: The Department does not identify specific expenditure information relating to cut flowers and pot plants. Breaking down the facilities management contracts to identify such specific costs could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Food

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of food procured by his Department (a) meets the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering and (b) is from British sources.

Chris Grayling: Since 1998, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) occupies the majority of its accommodation under a private finance initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract. Under the terms of this PFI, the Department leases back fully serviced accommodation from its private sector partner Telereal Trillium. This covers a variety of facilities including, where appropriate, the provision of catering services which is delivered through Telereal Trillium’s service partner Compass Group UK, trading as Eurest.
	(a) Telereal Trillium fully supports the introduction of Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services and continues to work with their clients to meet these standards. For the DWP sites where Telereal Trillium provides the catering, an increasing proportion of their offer meets these standards. Examples include:
	100% of the food provided meets UK or equivalent standards of production;
	100% of the eggs they provide are sourced from enriched cages;
	Fish is not sourced from the Marine Conservation Society ‘fish to avoid’ list;
	Salt has been removed from tables to encourage customers to taste food before seasoning.
	(b) All the food provided at DWP sites is sourced from British distributors. In addition, 31% of food is produced in Britain, supporting British farmers, suppliers and manufacturers.

Housing Benefit: Scotland

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his most recent estimate is of the number of properties which will be outwith the maximum limit for housing benefit that are (a) a single room in shared accommodation, (b) one-bedroom properties, (c) two-bedroom properties, (d) three-bedroom properties and (e) four or more bedroom properties in each (i) local authority area in Scotland and (ii) parliamentary constituency in Scotland.

Steve Webb: Estimates of the percentage of properties with rents at or below the local housing allowance rates in each broad rental market area are published on the Department for Work and Pensions website (table 9) at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/impacts-of-hb-proposals.pdf
	Broad rental market areas tend to be larger than local authorities. The estimates also combine all property types to increase their statistical validity. Figures by property type for local authorities and parliamentary constituencies in Scotland are not available.

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for how long the Aberdeen Chapel Jobcentre Plus has only been open to new claims.

Chris Grayling: The delivery model for interviews in the Aberdeen jobcentres changed on 6 June 2011. As part of our estates rationalisation programme we are moving all of our jobcentre services into a single site within the city of Aberdeen. The new claims interviews at Chapel street jobcentre are the last element of our services to be migrated to the nearby Ebury house jobcentre, later in the year.

Jobcentre Plus

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish a list of the size of live jobseeker's allowance registers at each individual Jobcentre Plus; and what the number of referrals to the Work programme is from each Jobcentre Plus as a proportion of each centre's register.

Chris Grayling: I have deposited the following information in the Library: the numbers of people on the jobseeker's allowance register for each Jobcentre Plus office as at February 2012 and the number of JSA claimants that each Jobcentre Plus office referred to the Work programme between June and October 2011.
	This is the most up to date information available for both data sources.
	Due to the different administration systems used for these figures it is not possible to provide a proportional breakdown in the time available.

Mass Media

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what media monitoring services his Department has purchased in each of the last five years.

Chris Grayling: The services purchased are as follows:
	Durrants (including Durrants Ltd and Durrants Press Cuttings Ltd)—this is a contract to provide the Department with daily press cuttings from the national and regional media. This informs the Department on what is being written in the media about our policies so that we can be sure that information getting to the public is accurate.
	The Media Monitoring Unit (MMU), part of the Central Office of Information (COI), also provides Government Departments with summaries of national broadcast news and some transcripts. The Department for Work and Pensions uses this service where our policies have been covered in broadcast media.

Occupational Pensions

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent progress he has made on the implementation of pensions auto-enrolment.

Steve Webb: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 23 March 2012, Official Report, column 82WS, which provides information about the publication of a consultation document containing the full detail of our implementation approach, including draft regulations, and the publication of an accompanying impact assessment.
	Copies of these two documents are available from the House Library.

Remploy

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish 
	(1)  the financial information for the last five years of Remploy factory sites in Wales that are set to close;
	(2)  the (a) dataset used to determine if individual Remploy factories were financially unviable and (b) the centrally-charged overheads for each Remploy factory.

Maria Miller: The Government commissioned independent advisers to undertake a commercial review of the businesses and provide advice before deciding future strategy.
	A copy of the report was published on 13 March 2012 on the DWP website and is available at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2011/specialist-disability-emp-prog.shtml#ir
	This report contains financial information from the last two years.
	Remploy has started collective consultation with its trade unions and the management forums on the proposed closure of the 36 factories that the Remploy board considers (subject to consultation) are unlikely to be able to achieve independent financial viability. Remploy welcome proposals for the exit of any parts of the Remploy businesses currently subject to consultation with any other proposals for avoiding compulsory redundancies. I confirmed in my statement of 20 March 2012 that Remploy would publish details of the commercial process on its website:
	www.remploy.co.uk
	including contact information to assist those who wish to put forward an expression of interest.
	Remploy will make commercial data available to any interested parties (under a non disclosure agreement and with the agreement of other contracting parties as necessary) who express an interest in developing a credible proposal for the exit of a business.
	We are also considering the independent expert support that employees might require to help them develop a business proposal.

Social Security Benefits

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost to his Department of raising the earnings disregard 
	(1)  in housing benefit by (a) £8, (b) £12.50, (c) £20.00 (d) £31.50 and (e) £44.00 per week in each of the next three years;
	(2)  on council tax benefit by (a) £2.50, (b) £4.00, (c) £6.00 (d) £9.50 and (e) £13.50 per week in each of the next three years.

Steve Webb: The estimated annual costs of the requested options are presented in the following tables:
	
		
			 Council tax benefit 
			 £ 
			  Cost of additional earnings disregard 
			 Financial year £2.50 £4.00 £6.00 £9.50 £ 13.50 
			 2012-13 10 million 20 million 30 million 40 million 60 million 
			 2013-14 — — — — — 
			 2014-15 — — — — — 
			 Source: Policy Simulation Model 11.0.1 
		
	
	
		
			 Housing benefit 
			 £ 
			  Cost of additional earnings disregard 
			 Financial year £8.00 £12.50 £20.00 £31.50 £44.00 
			 2012-13 230 million 350 million 580 million 960 million 1,410 million 
			 2013-14 260 million 380 million 600 million 1,000 million 1,470 million 
			 2014-15 260 million 390 million 630 million 1,050 million 1,490 million 
			 Notes: 1. Annual costs have been rounded to nearest £10 million. 2. The figures have been produced using the Policy Simulation Model, using 2009-10 reference data from the Family Resource Survey. 3. Some of the estimated costs of these changes are based on models of expected take-up among entitled non-recipients. Estimates of such behavioural responses are subject to considerable uncertainty. 4. Increased costs are for the directly affected benefit only. Although not modelled, the potential for increased take-up among other benefits (referred to as "cross take-up"), would result in higher overall costs. 5. Figures have not been provided for council tax benefit beyond 2012-13. From April 2013, council tax benefit will be replaced by a localised council tax support scheme. 6. Income related benefits have broadly consistent rules regarding the treatment of income and capital. The estimates take no account of adjustments to earnings disregards in other benefits. 7. Estimates of costs exclude impacts of UC which will be introduced from October 2013. 8. Estimates of costs have been uprated in line with Budget 2012 forecasts of HB/CTB caseloads. Source: Policy Simulation Model 11.0.1.

Students: Social Security Benefits

Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what benefits a higher education student intercalating as a result of illness is eligible to receive until they return to their course of study.

Maria Miller: After 28 weeks, during which time student financial support continues to be available, students who intercalate on health grounds can make a claim for employment and support allowance if they are in receipt of disability living allowance.
	Students who recover before 28 weeks but cannot resume their course until a later date for academic reasons can claim jobseeker's allowance once they are certified as fit.

Universal Credit

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the potential effect on poverty levels of the introduction of universal credit.

Chris Grayling: An updated universal credit impact assessment was published on the Department’s website on 10 October 2011.
	On reasonable assumptions, the combined impact of take-up and entitlements will lift around 900,000 individuals out of poverty, including more than 350,000 children and around 550,000 working-age adults once universal credit is fully implemented. These poverty impacts exclude the positive impacts of more people moving into work.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the reasons are for the time taken in making the decisions involved in the site selection aspect of the integrated assurance and approvals plan for universal credit; and when he expects to make those decisions.

Chris Grayling: Those sites which will provide processing and telephony support in universal credit service centres are currently delivering DWP and HMRC business. Potential sites are being carefully assessed against a set of criteria to ensure that the cost and disruption associated with preparing for universal credit delivery is minimised. We expect to make decisions on the first universal credit service centres in early summer.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 15 March 2012, Official Report, column 351W, on universal credit, if he will set a date for an announcement on the impact of TUPE and staff transfers on universal credit implementation.

Chris Grayling: We are reviewing the latest information on UC design and seeking legal advice on the likelihood of TUPE regulations applying. If sufficient information is available, we hope to make an announcement in May 2012.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Catering

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors in the latest period for which figures are available.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development does not hold hospitality information at this level of detail, and the question cannot be answered without incurring disproportionate cost.

Central Africa

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he is taking to provide assistance for the development of water projects in (a) the Democratic Republic of Congo and (b) Uganda.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting two projects which are helping to increase access to drinking water in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Firstly, ‘Village et Ecole Assaini’ (Healthy Village and School), a national level programme, which has provided 1,366,381 people with access to drinking water across 1950 villages. Secondly, DFID is also providing support in the peri-urban areas of Mbuji Mayi (Kasai Oriental) which has provided access to drinking water for around 150,000 people.
	DFID's bilateral aid programme in Uganda does not have a specific focus on water and sanitation, as this area is already supported by other donors. We do however support the sector indirectly through our contributions to the national budget. In 2010 to 2011, the rural population with access to water supply increased from 17.4 million to 18.8 million, out of which DFID's indirect funding benefitted 2,800 people. DFID's attribution for results in the water sector through budget support is calculated on the basis of 0.2% of the GoU's investment in the water sector. In addition, my Department has allocated £900,000 to UNICEF for emergency water and sanitation services in Karamoja region of north-eastern Uganda where water scarcity associated with the drought contributes to perennially high rates of malnutrition and water borne disease. We estimate that with our support, 27,000 households will gain access to safe water and 15,300 households will gain access to adequate sanitation services.

Developing Countries: Disease Control

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress his Department has made in increasing the number of (a) tuberculosis (TB) patients tested for HIV and (b) HIV patients tested for TB in developing countries.

Andrew Mitchell: The UK position paper on HIV, ‘Towards zero infections’, published in May 2011, sets out how the UK will scale up access to HIV and TB diagnosis, treatment, care and support within integrated services. Co-ordination between the services for the two diseases is improving, but much remains to be done. We continue to focus on both HIV and TB, and on strengthening the underlying health systems in order to improve the way health services diagnose and treat illnesses, including TB and TB-HIV.
	For example, in partnership with the Treatment Action Campaign in Khayelitsha township in South Africa, improved case detection, brought about by decentralising integrated TB/HIV screening services to every clinic, has resulted in better treatment outcomes with the cure rate for TB standing at 81% in 2010.

Developing Countries: Tuberculosis

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of progress towards international tuberculosis control targets as set out in the Global Plan to Stop TB 2011-2015; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Mitchell: Across the World Health Organisation's six regions, the world is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goal target of halting and reversing the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) by 2015. In relation to the targets outlined in the Global Plan to Stop TB 2011-15, the tuberculosis mortality rates have also fallen by just over a third since 1990 and are on track to meet the target of halving 1990 mortality rates by 2015. However, the target of halving the 1990 prevalence rates by 2015 is unlikely to be achieved globally, although it has been reached in the Americas.
	Although considerable progress has been made, significant challenges remain, including drug resistant TB and TB-HIV co-infection.

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development's (DFID) London Headquarters spent £2,074.72 on the maintenance of atrium plants from May 2010 till the contract was terminated in November 2010. DFID's East Kilbride Headquarters spent £565 on the maintenance of plants from May 2010 until the contract was terminated in June 2010. Since then, no expenditure has been incurred on cut flowers or pot plans in either of our two UK offices.

Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of the contribution of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to meeting Millennium Development Goal 6.

Andrew Mitchell: The UK Multilateral Aid Review assessed the Global Fund to be critical in the delivery of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6 as the leading organisation disbursing finance to AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria. It finances a range of high impact interventions throughout pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, birth and childhood, and as such has an important impact on MDGs 4 and 5 also.

Intellectual Property

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department has a role in intellectual property policy development.

Stephen O'Brien: The Department for International Development does not take a leading role in intellectual property policy development for the UK.

Mass Media

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what media monitoring services his Department has purchased in each of the last five years.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development purchased the following media services in each of the last five years:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Supplier 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 (to date) 
			 Precise 156,033 101,764 92,703 55,486 11,374 
			 Durrants 0 0 0 0 20,332 
			 Media Monitoring Unit: Cabinet Office 37,245 53,815 50,507 46,135 41,438 
			 Meltwater 0 2,961 8,441 0 0 
			 Total 193,278 158,540 151,651 101,621 73,144 
		
	
	There has been a 47% reduction in purchases between 2007-08 and 2010-11.

McKinsey and Company

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department paid to McKinsey and Company in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development's (DFID) records show that in the last four financial years; the following amounts were paid to McKinsey and Company:
	
		
			  Amount (£) 
			 2010-11 1,701,650 
			 2011-12 829,200 
		
	
	The amounts detailed above for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are for fees and expenses in relation to McKinsey's input to education projects in Pakistan. These arrangements were agreed by the then Prime Minister the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown). Sir Michael Barber was appointed Co-Chair of the Pakistan Education Task Force in 2009. Following requests from the Pakistan Government in April 2010, the UK Government agreed to provide expert assistance to the taskforce. McKinsey, for whom Sir Michael Barber was a director at the time, were contracted to work with the taskforce secretariat providing expert analysis to the Government and driving implementation. In April 2011 the Punjab Education Reform Roadmap succeeded the education taskforce and McKinsey continue to provide expert analysis and advice. McKinsey pay rates are based on a pre-existing cross Whitehall framework agreement, used for all Government Departments, although DFID negotiated significantly discounted rates with the McKinsey team. Following Sir Michael's departure from McKinsey in September 2011, I negotiated different arrangements and he is now working on a strictly pro-bono basis as DFID Special Representative for Education in Pakistan. I am extremely grateful to Sir Michael for the support he is now providing free of charge.

Rwanda

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment his Department has made of governance in Rwanda.

Alan Duncan: The United Kingdom Government continuously monitors governance in Rwanda. The Department for International Development (DFID) 2011 Operational Plan reflects the most recent public assessment.
	In March 2012, DFID initiated an assessment of the Government of Rwanda's commitment to DFID's four Partnership Principles which underpin decision-making about the provision of budget support. These principles are about commitment to: poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals; human rights and international obligations; public financial management and anti-corruption; and strengthening domestic accountability. The assessment will cover all of the partnership principles but will examine ‘domestic accountability' and ‘human rights and international obligations' in greater detail. The assessment will be completed in May 2012, and a short summary version will be made publicly available.

Syria

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Alan Duncan: We remain gravely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria. Not only have thousands been killed and wounded or are going without basic supplies but also the regime has committed serious human rights violations against its own citizens.
	The United Nations (UN) estimates that more than 8,000 people have been killed since the popular uprising began in March 2011 and between 100,000 and 200,000 people have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the violence. The registered refugee population in countries neighbouring Syria is more than 25,000, but unofficial estimates suggest there are more than 30,000.
	A Syrian Government-led humanitarian assessment mission is currently under way, with participation of the UN and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. We will closely monitor UN planning following the assessment mission. The UK has already committed £4.5 million to support the global humanitarian response.
	We are continuing to call upon the Syrian regime immediately to allow all neutral and impartial humanitarian organisations unhindered access.

Taxis

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on taxis for (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants between August 2011 and January 2012.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development's accounting system does not split how much we spend on taxis by Ministers and civil servants. To obtain this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bahrain

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on whether ammunition manufactured by Gamebore Cartridge Company and used against protestors in Bahrain may have been made in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: No UK licenses have been issued to Gamebore Cartridge Company for Bahrain for the last 10 years. The Ministry of Interior acquires ammunition from other companies and countries outside the UK.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what analysis his Department has made of the progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards full implementation of, and compliance with the Dayton/Paris Peace Agreements.

David Lidington: Recent political developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been broadly positive, following the formation of a new state-level government in February 2012 and progress on reforms which are essential for further progress towards EU and NATO accession. The security situation remains calm and stable. This demonstrates the further steps Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken towards stable and lasting peace, which started with the Dayton/Paris Agreement.
	We nevertheless continue to closely monitor the situation and urge international partners to remain engaged. The past year has seen actions challenging the authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina state-level institutions and laws, and the authority of decisions made by the High Representative, as well as inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric. Further action is also required to facilitate the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, progress on which has been slow, and on the formal delineation of the Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL).
	As a member of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board, the UK works closely with the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The UK Government fully support the ongoing role of the High Representative as the Final Authority in theatre on the implementation of the civilian elements of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The UK is also a strong supporter of the EU-led Peacekeeping Mission, EUFOR Althea, whose executive mandate remains an important safeguard of stability.
	The UK Government will not tolerate attempts to undermine the Dayton Agreement or the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We remain resolutely committed to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign and stable country on the path to the EU and NATO.

Catering

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Lidington: This information is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office undertakes a wide range of activities to establish and maintain contacts throughout its network of over 250 overseas posts as well as diplomatic activity in the UK to promote and defend British interests. Any such spending is undertaken for business reasons, and expenditure on business hospitality is kept under rigorous scrutiny to ensure value for money and effectiveness and is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity, Propriety and Value for Money.

Egypt

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of prospects for the forthcoming elections in Egypt.

Alistair Burt: We welcome the fact that the Egyptian Higher Presidential Election Committee announced the timetable for presidential elections on 29 February. Registration for presidential candidates opened on 10 March and voting will run from 23-24 May with runoffs on 16-17 June. The final results should be announced on 21 June and the handover of power is due to take place no later than 1 July. We continue to encourage the Egyptian authorities to hold to this timetable.

EU Law: Disclosure of Information

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely benefits derived from the EU exchanging classified information with Bosnia and Herzegovina under the terms of EU Council Decision 2004/731/EC.

David Lidington: Given the United Kingdom's desire for a stable and prosperous Bosnia and Herzegovina, moving towards EU membership, it is in the UK's interest for there to be greater co-operation between the EU and the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A closer relationship, particularly as Bosnia and Herzegovina moves along its path towards the EU, will require increased sharing of information. This agreement acts to ensure that such information is correctly protected and properly secured.
	The UK must decide, no later than 31 May 2014, whether to accept full European Court of Justice jurisdiction over those EU police and criminal justice measures adopted before 1 December 2009 which have not been amended or replaced. This measure falls within the scope of that decision and will be reviewed accordingly.

EU Law: Disclosure of Information

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely benefits derived from the EU exchanging classified information with Norway under the terms of EU Council Decision 2004/843/CFSP.

David Lidington: Norway is a close and reliable partner on defence and security issues and is a member of NATO, the European Free Trade Agreement, the European economic area and Schengen. The implementation of this agreement further cements the UK's close ties with Norway as well as the Norwegian relationship with the European Union.
	The UK must decide, no later than 31 May 2014, whether to accept full European Court of Justice jurisdiction over those EU police and criminal justice measures adopted before 1 December 2009 which have not been amended or replaced. This measure falls within the scope of that decision and will be reviewed accordingly.

EU Law: Disclosure of Information

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely benefits derived from the EU exchanging classified information with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia under the terms of EU Council Decision 2005/296/CFSP.

David Lidington: Given the United Kingdom's desire for a stable and prosperous Macedonia, moving towards EU and NATO membership, it is in the UK's interest for there to be greater co-operation between the EU and the Government of Macedonia. A closer relationship, particularly as Macedonia moves along the EU accession path, will require increased sharing of information. This agreement acts to ensure that such information is correctly protected and properly secured.
	The UK must decide, no later than 31 May 2014, whether to accept full European Court of Justice jurisdiction over those EU police and criminal justice measures adopted before 1 December 2009 which have not been amended or replaced. This measure falls within the scope of that decision and will be reviewed accordingly.

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

David Lidington: Data on expenditure on cut flowers and pot plants across the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) network of 260 posts worldwide is not held centrally and could only be supplied at disproportionate cost. However, in the UK the breakdown is as follows:
	(a) Government Hospitality (a section within the FCO's Protocol Department) provides corporate hospitality services for the whole of Government, at Lancaster House, the FCO Fine Rooms, 1 Carlton Gardens and 10 Downing street, among other venues. It is used both for government business hospitality and commercial hire to fee paying private clients. It hosts over 200 events each year. Government Hospitality provides semi-permanent plant displays in public areas, decorative arrangements for weekly display and individual table arrangements for lunches and dinners. Fresh flowers are only used when it is appropriate and necessary. Decisions are made on an event-by-event basis and costs are carefully monitored to ensure value for money. Much of this expenditure is reimbursed by revenues generated by the events. From May 2010-March 2011 the costs were £14,276.21. From April 2011-February 2012 the costs were £11,519.30.
	(b) There is no direct cost to the FCO for pot plants.

Lebanon: Syria

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support he is giving to Christian communities in Lebanon and Syria.

Alistair Burt: The rights of Christians in Lebanon are enshrined in the national pact and the constitution. Officials in Beirut are in regular contact with leaders of the Christian community and we continue to monitor religious and sectarian relations in the country.
	We continue to urge the Lebanese authorities to create the conditions for pluralist and non-sectarian politics and to establish policies that prevent discrimination against anyone on the basis of their religion.
	The Government’s policy are that Syria should genuinely safeguard the rights of all minorities and allow for proper freedom of association and expression. In recent contact with Syrian oppositionists, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has made clear that oppositionists should ensure equal rights for all. An immediate end to the violence being perpetuated on the Syrian people by the Assad regime is imperative for all.

Taxis

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on taxis for (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants between August 2011 and January 2012.

David Lidington: Procurement activity overseas is devolved to our network of over 260 posts across 170 countries. Information on taxi use by Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff overseas is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. We can therefore only provide information for travel in the UK.
	FCO Ministers have not used private hire or taxis on official business between August 2011 and January 2012, and this has been the case since May 2010. The only exception was one occasion when a Minister took a taxi on a visit to Cambridge in January 2012 at a cost of £19.50. During this period, transport has been provided through FCO Services or the Government Car Service. Section 10 of the Ministerial Code provides guidance on travel for Ministers and makes clear that Ministers must ensure that they always make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements.
	The FCO currently uses two contracts in the UK with private hire companies: Addison Lee, covering the London area and Raffles Taxis covering the Milton Keynes area. The spend for these suppliers between August 2011 and January 2012, for both FCO and FCO Services, was £151,990.60.
	Like all Government Departments, the FCO ensures we use taxpayer's money very carefully to help reduce the overall costs of Government. Staff therefore are only allowed to use taxis in exceptional circumstances, when public transport is not available, or when their line manager agrees that taking a taxi will help keep a staff member safe during unsocial hours. As well as approver checks, expense claims will be subject to retrospective audit checks.
	FCO services is the trading arm of the FCO and as such is not tax payer funded. There is no public transport between the FCO Services site and the nearest station and so taxis are used to make sure staff are safe.

Western Sahara

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise with his Moroccan counterpart the attack of 24 February 2012 by Moroccan police on Saharawi attending a reception in El Aaiun for participants in the UN-sponsored family exchange programme.

Alistair Burt: The Government take seriously all reports of such incidents between the Moroccan authorities and the people of Western Sahara. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), stressed the importance the UK attaches to improved human rights in Western Sahara when he last visited Morocco in October 2011. Our ambassador in Rabat also frequently discusses human rights with Morocco's newly elected government.
	Officials from the British embassy in Rabat visit Western Sahara on a regular basis and speak to a wide range of civil society organisations and UN personnel, in order to monitor the human rights situation there.

Western Sahara

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the suggestion from the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara that the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression should visit the Territory and the Tindouf camps.

Alistair Burt: We are not aware of any reports to this effect. The British Government are committed to the independence of UN Special Rapporteurs and their right to fulfil their mandates as they choose. For this reason, we do not become involved in decisions concerning the remit of their work.
	However, as set out in UN Security Council resolution 1979, we welcome Morocco’s commitment to ensure unqualified and unimpeded access to all Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many stomach pumps were used in accident and emergency departments to treat patients in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012 to date; and how many such devices were used to treat patients under (i) 16 and (ii) 25 years old.

Simon Burns: This information is not centrally collected.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were admitted to hospital as a consequence of intoxication through alcohol in each of the last 12 months; how many people were treated for alcohol abuse in each of the last 12 months; and how many (a) women and (b) men were admitted to hospital for treatment for the effects of alcohol abuse in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) the latest period for which figures are available in 2012.

Anne Milton: Finished hospital admission episodes for 2010-11 (by month) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of alcohol intoxication, finished admission episodes for 2010-11 (by month) with a primary diagnosis of alcohol abuse and finished admission episodes for 2009-10, 2010-11 and-2011-12 (provisional data), by month and by gender, with a primary diagnosis for conditions that are alcohol induced or due to alcohol can be found in the tables.
	It should be noted that admission episodes cannot be counted as patients since the same patient can be admitted more than once in a year.
	Reference should be made to the footnotes when interpreting the data.
	
		
			 Table 1: Finished admission episodes (1)  with a primary (2)  or secondary (3)  diagnosis of alcohol intoxication (4) , for 2010-11 (by month) 
			 Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  Month FAEs 
			 2010-11 April 5,134 
			  May 5,590 
			  June 5,437 
			  July 5,450 
			  August 5,844 
			  September 5,037 
			  October 5,223 
			  November 4,794 
			  December 4,787 
			  January 4,799 
			  February 4,552 
			  March 4,975 
			  Total 61,622 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Finished admission episodes (1)  with a primary (2)  diagnosis of alcohol abuse (5) , for 2010-11 (by month) 
			 Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  Month FAEs 
			 2010-11 April 2,367 
			  May 2,419 
			  June 2,581 
			  July' 2,647 
			  August 2,693 
			  September 2,425 
			  October 2,411 
			  November 2,366 
			  December 2,079 
			  January 2,198 
			  February 2,057 
			  March 2,263 
			  Total 28,506 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Finished admission episodes (1)  with a primary (2)  diagnosis of conditions that are alcohol induced or due to alcohol (6) , for 2009-10 to 2011-12 (7)  (provisional data for 2011-12) (8) 
			 Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  Month Male Female 
			 2009-10 April 3;868 1,735 
			  May 4,105 1,794 
			  June 4,258 1,834 
			  July 4,394 1,827 
			  August 4,357 1,914 
			  September 4,179 1,849 
			  October 4,073 1,769 
			  November 3,846 1,690 
			  December 3,843 1,532 
			  January 3,686 1,517 
			  February 3,464 1,572 
			  March 4,062 1,722 
			  Total 48,135 20,755 
			     
			 2010-11 April 4,113 1,743 
			  May 4,192 1,825 
			  June 4,352 1,856 
			  July 4,558 1,896 
			  August 4,525 1,892 
			  September 4,198 1,713 
		
	
	
		
			  October 4,201 1,806 
			  November 3,956 1,681 
			  December 3,555 1,555 
			  January 3,851 1,639 
			  February 3,580 1,504 
			  March 3,960 1,761 
			  Total 49,041 20,871 
			     
			 2011-12 (provisional)(8) April 3,996 1,748 
			  May 4,369 1,916 
			  June 4,315 1,884 
			  July 4,268 1,945 
			  August 4,386 1,954 
			  September 4,267 1,797 
			  October 4,282 1,855 
			  November 4,083 1,769 
			 (1) Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. (2) Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. (3) Secondary diagnosis As well as the primary diagnosis, there are up to 19 (13 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and six prior to 2002-03) secondary diagnosis fields in HES that show other diagnoses relevant to the episode of care. (4) Alcohol intoxication ICD codes used: F10.0 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, acute intoxication (Primary or Secondary diagnosis), Y91 Evidence of alcohol involvement determined by level of intoxication (Cause code—Secondary diagnosis only). (5) Alcohol abuse ICD codes used: F10.1-F10.9 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol (excluding acute intoxication). (6) Conditions alcohol induced or due to alcohol ICD codes used: E24.4 Alcohol-induced pseudo-Cushing's Syndrome, F10 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, G31.2 Degeneration of nervous system due to alcohol, G62.1 Alcoholic polyneuropathy. G72.1 Alcoholic myopathy, 142.6 Alcoholic cardiomyopathy, K29.2 Alcoholic gastritis, K70—Alcoholic liver disease, K86.0 Alcohol-induced chronic pancreatitis, 035.4 Maternal care for (suspected) damage to foetus from alcohol, T51.0 Toxic effect of alcohol, Ethanol, Z50.2 Alcohol rehabilitation, Z72.1 Problems related to lifestyle, alcohol use, 099.3 Mental disorders and diseases of the nervous system complicating pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium immediately followed by a code from F10, G31.2, G62.1, or G72.1 in order to identify an alcohol-related disorder. (7) Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. (8) Provisional data These data are provisional and may be incomplete or contain errors for which no adjustments have yet been made. Counts produced from provisional data are likely to be lower than those generated for the same period in the final dataset. This shortfall will be most pronounced in the final month of the latest period, i.e. November from the (month 9) April to November extract. It is also probable that clinical data are not complete, which may in particular affect the last two months of any given period. There may also be errors due to coding inconsistencies that have not yet been investigated and corrected. Notes: 1. We have excluded E52.X Niacin deficiency (pellagra) as this includes but is not limited to alcoholic Pellagra. We have excluded T51.1-T51.9 Toxic effect of alcohol for non beverage alcohols (e.g. methanol). We have excluded Z03.6 Observation for suspected toxic effect from ingested substance as this includes but is not limited to observation for suspected toxic effect from alcohol. We have also excluded X65 Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to alcohol as this relates to self harm rather than usual alcohol use. 2. It should also be noted that codes for alcohol abuse and intoxication have been included in these figures and therefore figures from each table should not be added together. Data quality: HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission, of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Baby Care Units

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department plans to take to consider improvements to neonatal services and care in the context of the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention programme; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: It is for the national health service locally to consider improvements to neonatal services and care in the context of the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP) programme. To help commissioners understand variation in spending on neonatal services across England, the QIPP Right Care national workstream included a map within the NHS Right Care Atlas on neonatal care admissions. This can be viewed at:
	www.sepho.org.uk/extras/maps/NHSatlasChildHealth/atlas.html
	To assist NHS commissioners and providers in the delivery of safe, high quality neonatal services, the Department published the evidence based “Toolkit for High Quality Neonatal Services” in 2009. This is available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_107845
	The Toolkit is supported by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) “Quality Standard for specialist neonatal care” published in 2010. This is available on NICE'S website at:
	www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qualitystandards/specialistneonatalcare/specialistneonatalcarequalitystandard.jsp

Cancer

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage innovation in personalised cancer treatments.

Paul Burstow: “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, published on 12 January, set out a commitment to establish appropriate commissioning and funding structures for molecular diagnostic testing for cancer. Molecular diagnostic testing can identify which patients are most likely to respond positively to a specific treatment, allowing treatment to be targeted or ‘personalised’.
	From 2013-14 we expect to introduce a new national commissioning model for cancer molecular diagnostic tests. We will work closely with the NHS Commissioning Board to ensure these services are developed as an integral part of national commissioning.

Catering

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on complimentary refreshments for (a) staff and (b) visitors in the latest period for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: The Department (including Connecting for Health) has spent £109,017 on refreshments from January 2012 to date, which is the latest period for which figures are available.
	The figures includes that spent by arm's length bodies and other sponsored visitors using the Department's buildings in London. It is not possible to identify separately complimentary refreshments that are provided to staff attending such events.

Childbirth

Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on caring for premature infants in the first six months of life in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	However, the following table sets out the spend on ‘conditions of neonates’ for the last five years.
	Please note these figures cover expenditure on a wide range of neonatal conditions (from birth to 28 days), which, in addition to care for premature infants, covers expenditure on a wide range of categories of care that babies may need regardless of whether they were born prematurely.
	
		
			  Expenditure (£ million) 
			  2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 England level expenditure 802 955 1,110 1,279 1,053 
			 Notes: 1. Source of data is annual primary care trust (PCT) programme budgeting financial returns. England level figures are calculated using PCT and strategic health authority (SHA) programme budgeting returns and Department of Health resource accounts data. Figures will include an estimation of special health authority expenditure. 2. In order to improve data quality, continual refinement have been made to the programme budgeting data calculation methodology since the first collection in 2003-04. The underlying data which support programme budgeting data are also subject to yearly changes. This was particularly significant in 2010-11. The amount of expenditure allocated to the ‘other miscellaneous’ category increased substantially in 2010-11, which means less expenditure is allocated to the individual programme categories. Caution is therefore advised when using programme budgeting data to draw conclusions on change in PCT spending patterns between years. 3. Figures include expenditure across all sectors. Disease specific expenditure do not include expenditure on prevention, or general practitioner expenditure, but do include prescribing expenditure. 4. Calculating programme budgeting data is complex and not all health care activity or services can be classified directly to a programme budgeting category or care setting. When it is not possible to reasonably estimate a main programme from existing data sets, expenditure is either included within the ‘other miscellaneous’ subcategory, or apportioned over other categories. Treatment may vary between years. 5. When it is not possible to reasonably estimate a disease specific subcategory from existing data sets, expenditure is included within the other subcategory of the relevant programme. The allocation of expenditure to programme budgeting subcategories is not always straightforward, and subcategory level data should therefore be used with caution.

Consultants

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any of his special advisers have held meetings with representatives from Mandate Communications since 2010.

Simon Burns: Special advisers' diaries record two meetings with Health Mandate—formerly part of Mandate Communications, now MHPC. Since both occasions involved the receipt of hospitality, the meetings have already been or will be declared through the quarterly departmental declaration of special advisers' hospitality, available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/MinistersandDepartmentLeaders/Departmentdirectors/DH_110759

Drugs: Misuse

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress was reported at the 15 March meeting convened by his Department of stakeholders on addiction to medicines against actions from the September meeting of the group; what future work and action points were agreed upon; whether a statement on tranquilliser addiction was agreed on; and when the group will be reconvened.

Anne Milton: Stakeholders at the roundtable meeting on 15 March 2012 reported progress against all the actions that were agreed at meeting in September. These actions include work to improve the local understanding of need in relation to addiction to medicines and over-the-counter drugs and the local commissioning of services to meet this need. Departmental officials will be sending a note of the actions of the meeting of 15 March 2012, including a draft consensus statement on addiction to medicines, to all attendees of the meeting prior to circulating more widely.

Flowers

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants between May 2010 and February 2012.

Simon Burns: The Department has spent a total of £12,383.80 on plants and trees in the period May 2010 to March 2011 for its core headquarters estate, but cannot separately identify any expenditure within that amount on cut flowers or pot plants. No specific expenditure has been incurred in the period from April 2011.

General Practitioners: Bolton

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding per head of population he plans to allocate to the Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group.

Simon Burns: Subject to legislation, the NHS Commissioning Board would take over responsibility for the allocation of resources from the Department for 2013-14 onwards. The board would allocate resources to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in a way that supports the principle of securing equivalent access to national health service services relative to the prospective burden of disease and disability. How these allocations are determined would be a matter for the board.

Genetics: Screening

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the usefulness of (a) predictive and (b) predisposition genetic tests.

Anne Milton: The Department funds the UK Genetic Testing Network, a network of accredited genetic testing laboratories, which evaluates all new genetic tests, including predictive tests and tests for predisposition. The evaluation follows a standardised process for assessing, among other things, the test’s usefulness (clinical validity and clinical utility). Once a new test has been evaluated for use in the national health service, recommendations are made to NHS commissioners.
	In January 2012, the Government’s Human Genomics Strategy Group (HGSG) published its recommendations on genomic technology adoption, including new genetic testing technologies, in the NHS. The Government have welcomed the HGSG’s report and are putting in place a shared strategic framework to take forward their recommendations.

Gifts and Endowments

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what gifts were received by members of staff in his Department in the course of their duties since 2010.

Simon Burns: Gifts which have been declared as received by staff in the Department from 2010-12 are shown in the following table:
	Compact disc of Greig's music
	Flowers during period of sickness absence
	Bottle of champagne
	Small ornamental fan from Japan
	Two bottles of wine
	Glass candle holder
	Green silk table runner
	Bottle of champagne
	Wine for Christmas present
	Book
	Crystal glass Christmas tree decoration
	Sweets
	Two books
	Plate
	Engraved Glass obelisk
	Engraved pen
	Box containing tea, coffee and jam
	Tea and Coffee Gift Box
	Traditional Japanese business gifts—assorted Japanese teas and “Keisuke Serizawa” textiles
	Decorative plate with display stand
	Book
	Bottle of white wine
	Two bottles of wine
	Ticket to the Nobel Peace Prize Concert
	Backpack
	Bottle of red wine
	Ladies' ballpoint pen
	Celtic Wood carving photo frame
	Bottle of champagne
	Small metal glove puzzle
	Ballpoint pen
	Glass model of Hong Kong city
	Charitable donation made to “People First”
	Compact disc
	Photo frame
	Box of Chocolates, a box of coffee and two teacups
	Ceremonial plaque
	Box of Korean ginseng tea
	Japanese kimono
	Ornament

Headaches

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will take steps to improve access to tests to support the earlier diagnosis of short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival infection and tearing and episodic cluster headaches;
	(2)  if he will take steps to improve the awareness of short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival infection and tearing and episodic cluster headaches as part of medical training and professional development.

Paul Burstow: Responsibility for content of medical training and professional development courses rests with the medical colleges.
	Responsibility for ensuring that patients are able to obtain access to the appropriate tests to support a diagnosis of short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival infection and tearing rests with national health service commissioning.

Herbal Medicine: EU Law

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the interpretation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive in respect of products used as either food supplements or medicines exempt from the need for a medicinal products licence; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The classification of products as medicines is made on a case-by-case basis by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) under the Medicines for Human Use (Marketing Authorisations etc.) Regulations 1994 as amended. The MHRA is currently considering how effective, proportionate enforcement action can best ensure that the intended benefits of the European directive on traditional herbal medicinal products for consumers and for companies compliant with the legislation are achieved.

Hospitals: Parking

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent guidance he has issued to hospitals on car parking charges.

Simon Burns: This Government made clear in their consultation response in September 2010 that national health service organisations are responsible for their own policy on car parking, taking into account local operational circumstances and local community interests. These local policies should include fair concessions for all patients whose health care needs require extended or frequent access to hospital. NHS trust boards should be held to account by their local communities including foundation trust memberships and other public groups.
	The Department does not issue guidance to the NHS specifying how car parking, including charging, should be provided. Best practice guidance was issued by the NHS Confederation in their “Fair for all, not free for all” publication in April 2009.

Infectious Diseases

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the World Health Organisation's publication on The evolving threat of Antimicrobial Resistance.

Simon Burns: The evolving threat of ‘Antimicrobial Resistance—options for action’ is a detailed analysis of experience in implementing the recommendations of the 2001 WHO Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance. This valuable and thorough report considers how to slow down the development of antimicrobial resistance and includes examples from a range of countries including the United Kingdom.
	Our expert committee the Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection will be considering whether there are any aspects which we need, to build into our programme of activities.

Manpower

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were employed in interim posts by (a) his Department and (b) a non-ministerial department or arm's length body controlled by the Department through (i) Penna Consulting, (ii) Reed Personnel Services and (iii) Capita Resourcing Ltd (trading as Veredus) on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many such people (A) had been in post for over a year and (B) worked full-time at that date.

Simon Burns: For this response the Department has taken “interim posts” to be specialist contractors and interim managers rather than clerical and administrative temporary workers. The Department's arm’s length bodies have defined “interim posts” as short-term or temporary appointments, likely to be contractor in nature.
	For the purposes of this question the Department does not have any interims through Capita Resourcing Ltd (trading as Veredus). However the Department does use the pan-Government DWP CIPHER framework, which provides managed service contracting arrangements through Capita for the provision of specialist and interim workers. There are 83 people working in this category.
	The following table sets out the number of people working through Penna Consulting, Reed Personnel Services and Capita Resourcing (trading as Veredus) as at 29 February 2012.
	
		
			  Penna Consulting Reed Personnel Services Capita Resourcing Ltd (trading as Veredus) 
			 Department of Health 0 0 0 
			 Health Protection Agency 0 14 0 
			 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency 0 4 0 
			 Monitor 0 2 0 
			 National Patient Safety Agency 0 4 1 
			 NHS Blood and Transplant 0 48 0 
			 NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement 0 5 0 
		
	
	Information on whether these individuals have been in post for over a year, or worked full-time as at 29 February could be collected only at disproportionate cost.

Medical Equipment: Safety

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to ensure that safety concerns over (a) pharmaceutical products and (b) medical devices are shared between EU member states.

Simon Burns: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the executive agency of the Department of Health responsible for the regulation of medicines and medical devices on the United Kingdom market, to ensure that they are acceptably safe, are efficacious/work properly and manufactured to agreed standards of quality.
	Well-established procedures are currently in place to ensure that new safety concerns over pharmaceutical products arising within one European Union member state are shared promptly throughout Europe. The potential risk to public health of the issue dictates how quickly and by which route this occurs.
	All safety reviews for products authorised in more than one member state of the EU are shared at the Pharmacovigilance Working Party of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. This is to achieve a consensus on the need for regulatory action to minimise risk to patients and to co-ordinate implementation. The UK is fully represented at these discussions.
	The pharmaceutical legislation within Europe has recently been substantially revised to strengthen pharmacovigilance systems. This will further clarify the roles and responsibilities of all parties and ensure that decisions on safety issues concerning pharmaceuticals are made to a timescale commensurate with the risk to public health and that communications are co-ordinated across the EU.
	The MHRA also acts as the National Competent Authority for medical devices in the UK. The European medical devices directives require all Competent Authorities in the EU to operate a vigilance system for the reporting of adverse incidents involving medical devices. Each National Competent Authority generates a National Competent Authority Report (NCAR) to alert other EU Competent Authorities whenever a Field Safety Corrective Action (FSCA) is undertaken by a manufacturer, which affects other EU countries. The National Competent Authority may also issue a NCAR to inform other Competent Authorities of a safety issue, even when no FSCA has been issued by the manufacturer. The MHRA operates this system as the UK Competent Authority. Last year (2011) 157 NCARs were issued by the MHRA.

Medicine: Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when he plans to announce tuition fee funding and NHS bursary arrangements for students beginning medical degrees in the 2013-14 academic year;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills about the tuition fee funding and NHS bursary arrangements available to medical students beginning courses in the academic year 2013-14 onwards; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: As part of the discussion on the interim solution for the funding of students beginning a medical course in 2012-13, the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), and the Minister for Universities and Science, my right hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr Willetts), asked their departmental officials to take forward joint work to agree the funding arrangements for 2013-14. This work is continuing and we plan to make an announcement in due course.

Neurology: East Midlands

Louise Mensch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made by the NHS East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group in developing neuromuscular services in the region; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The provision of neuromuscular services is a matter for the local national health service. The East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group has created a neuromuscular network that includes clinicians, patients, patient groups and commissioners, with the aim of improving services for patients in the region.

Organs: Donors

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were added to the organ donor register in Chatham and Aylesford constituency in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Number on the organ donor register in Chatham and Aylesford constituency, by year 2007 to 2011 
			 Year of registration Number of registrations 
			 2007 1,529 
			 2008 1,639 
			 2009 1,597 
			 2010 1,539 
			 2011 1,354 
			 Current total—21 March 2012 26,762 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Organs: Donors

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were added to the organ donor register in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			 Number on the organ donor register in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, by year 2007 to 2011 
			 Year of registration Number of registrations 
			 2007 1,335 
			 2008 1,308 
			 2009 1,259 
			 2010 1,409 
			 2011 1,083 
			 Current total—21 March 2012 20,475 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Patients

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of NHS patients in England who are housebound.

Paul Burstow: This information is not collected centrally.

Perinatal Mortality

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of stillbirths.

Anne Milton: The Government have made reducing perinatal mortality, including stillbirth, an improvement area under domain one of the NHS Outcomes Frameworks for 2011-12 and 2012-13. To support the national health service in improving outcomes in pregnancy, labour and immediately after birth, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence will develop new quality standards, based on the best available evidence, on antenatal care, intrapartum: care and postnatal care.
	The Department is currently working with Sands (the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity) and other organisations to identify what more can be done to reduce the number of stillborn babies. In addition, the Department continues to invest in research. A major focus of the Department's National Institute for Health Research programme on women's health is understanding the factors linked to stillbirth and to use that information to improve the clinical care of pregnant women.

Prescription Drugs

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether manufacturers have a responsibility to notify his Department of potential drug shortages; and what steps his Department takes to inform pharmacists and physicians of potential shortages;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to tackle shortages of (a) paediatric and (b) other tuberculosis drugs; and what steps it is taking to ensure that drug shortages do not occur in the future.

Simon Burns: The Department and the pharmaceutical industry have published joint best practice guidelines, “Notification and Management of Medicines Shortages”, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. These recommend that companies communicate with the Department as soon as possible about impending shortages that are likely to have an impact on patient care, so that the options for mitigating and managing the shortage can be explored. Marketing Authorisation Holders also have a statutory duty to inform the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency if a product is not going to be available either temporarily or permanently. The Department expects companies to communicate directly with pharmacists and physicians where there is an interruption to the supply of a medicine.
	Although there have previously been occasional shortages of tuberculosis (TB) medicines, we are not aware of any current national shortages or of patients being adversely affected. The Department is working with, a group of national health service experts to investigate what can be done to improve security of supply of TB medicines for children and others.

Taxis

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent on taxis for (a) Ministers and (b) civil servants between August 2011 and January 2012.

Simon Burns: The total taxi spend by staff working for the Department between August 2011 and January 2012 was £43,061.47 of which £775.60 relates to taxi spend by ministerial offices. It is not possible to split the taxi spend by ministerial offices between Ministers and their private office staff or between civil servants and non permanent workers.

Tobacco: Packaging

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) he or (b) Ministers in his Department have met representatives of the Hands off our Packs campaign; and when any such meetings took place.

Anne Milton: Details of all official ministerial meetings with external parties are published quarterly in arrears on the Department's website. Data from 1 January 2010 up to the end of June 2011 can be found at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/MinistersandDepartmentLeaders/Departmentdirectors/DH_110759
	Data for July to September are due to be published shortly and data for October to December will be published in the summer.
	As a party to the framework convention on tobacco control, the United Kingdom has an obligation to protect the development of public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry.

Tuberculosis

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions his Department has had with clinical commissioning groups on collaborative commissioning for tuberculosis services; and what the outcomes were of these discussions.

Simon Burns: None. In future, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) led by local clinicians will be responsible for commissioning the majority of NHS services, including tuberculosis services. Primary care trust clusters are currently working with emerging CCGs to support them in identifying the most appropriate population size for commissioning different services and establishing the most effective collaborative commissioning arrangements.

Tuberculosis

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason his Department does not classify tuberculosis risk as a priority for emergency or temporary accommodation.

Anne Milton: The Housing Act 1996 places a statutory duty on local housing authorities to secure accommodation where an applicant is homeless through no fault of their own, eligible for assistance and is in priority need. The priority need categories include people who are vulnerable as a result of old age, mental illness or physical disability. Local authorities provide a range of emergency accommodation and priority will be determined locally.
	In a small number of cases, local national health service organisations may assist in the provision of temporary accommodation for individuals diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) who are not eligible for local authority funded accommodation so that treatment can be completed and lengthy in-patient stays avoided. As part of the proposed model of care for TB services in London, the NHS in London is considering establishing a pan-London protocol and fund to deal with such cases.
	New guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on identifying and managing TB in hard to reach groups recommends that local NHS and partner organisations should collaborate to provide accommodation for homeless people diagnosed with active pulmonary TB irrespective of their eligibility.

Tuberculosis

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure tuberculosis services are delivered in a co-ordinated way under his proposals for NHS reform.

Anne Milton: The proposals to reform the national health service and public health system will provide opportunities for strengthening co-ordination of tuberculosis services:
	The NHS Commissioning Board will have a leadership role in providing commissioning guidance for clinical commissioning groups based on quality standards and model NHS contracts.
	Clinical commissioning groups will benefit from specialist clinical advice in commissioning services for their patients via wider professional input, clinical senates, and public health advice from local directors of public health.
	Health and wellbeing boards will drive more integrated service planning and commissioning across the NHS, social care and public health, and provide the opportunity for working with local partners to address the wider determinants of health, such as housing.
	The new public health system will facilitate effective action at the local level, led by local directors of public health coupled with local health protection units.

Tuberculosis

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to promote GP awareness of tuberculosis incidence and the importance of early detection;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to maintain public awareness of tuberculosis in high-risk groups; and what consideration is given to the culturally-appropriateness of the information provided.

Anne Milton: The Department is funding TB Alert, the national tuberculosis (TB) charity to:
	increase awareness of TB among groups most vulnerable to TB through building the capacity of local voluntary sector organisations, national health service organisations and the wider public sector to run local awareness-raising programmes, taking account of the need for culturally appropriate information.
	develop an online learning resource about TB for primary health care professionals, which is being produced together with the Royal College of General Practitioners. The purpose of the resource is to help improve early TB detection and treatment completion, and should be available by the end of the year.
	In addition, the NHS in London is funding the ‘Find and Treat’ outreach service to identify and treat cases of TB among people who are most at risk such as those who are homeless or have complex social needs. This service includes peer educators who raise awareness of TB among these groups and encourage them to get tested.
	Recently published guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on identifying and managing TB in hard to reach groups makes recommendations to the NHS and partner organisations about raising and sustaining awareness of TB among health care professionals and those at risk. This includes the need for information to be culturally and linguistically appropriate and in a range of media formats.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Aerospace Industry

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether the UK centre for aerodynamics announced in the Budget Statement will be a Catapult Centre; whether it will receive funding from (a) the Catapult scheme and (b) the Technology Strategy Board; and what estimate he has made of the level of private sector funding that will be leveraged from the public investment.

Norman Lamb: The precise structure of the new centre has yet to be determined and will follow detailed discussions with stakeholders. It will work closely with the Catapult centres, the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and other relevant bodies in industry and academia. The funding announced in the budget is additional and does not come from either the existing Catapult or TSB budgets. We anticipate that up to 50% of the funding for research projects sponsored by this initiative will come from industry.

Business

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what definition his Department uses for small and medium-sized enterprise; and what assessment he has made of the usefulness of the term in categorising businesses.

Norman Lamb: There is no single definitive or universally accepted definition of a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME).
	For statistical purposes, in the National Statistics publication ‘Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions’ the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) define SMEs as those businesses with fewer than 250 employees.
	However, there are two further definitions used in the UK and Europe, which are as follows:
	1. EU definition of an SME
	In EU law an SME is defined as an enterprise with fewer than 250 employees and with a turnover of less than €50 million or alternatively a balance sheet of less than €43 million.
	2. UK law definition of an SME company
	In the UK, the Companies Act 2006 defines a SME for the purpose of accounting requirements. According to this a small company is one that meets at least two of the following conditions:
	(i) annual turnover of not more than £6.5 million
	(ii) a balance sheet total of not more than £3.26 million
	(iii) not more than 50 employees.
	A medium-sized company one that meets at least two of the following conditions:
	(i) annual turnover of not more than £25.9 million
	(ii) a balance sheet total of not more than £12.9 million
	(iii) not more than 250 employees.
	BIS has not made an assessment of the usefulness of the term SME for categorising businesses. The European Commission has commissioned an independent technical review of the coherence and effectiveness of the EU definition. The review is due to be published in October and the Government will fully participate in the discussion of its findings.
	In BIS, the further disaggregation of SMEs into micro (0 to nine employees), small (fewer than 50 employees) and medium (50 to 249 employees) helps us identify the specific needs of these different groups of businesses, and develop policy accordingly.

Business: Government Assistance

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has made available to businesses through each of the business support schemes operated by his Department and its agencies.

Mark Prisk: The information requested is as follows.
	Manufacturing Advisory service
	The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) provides free and subsidised support to manufacturing companies in England to improve productivity and unlock growth. Information and basic advice, events and workshops and problem analysis in the form of a Manufacturing Review are generally free while access to in-depth consultancy support is offered to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) at a 50% discounted rate up to a maximum of £10,000 for those with the greatest growth potential. Total funding for the MAS programme in FY 2011/12 is £11.3 million.
	Access to Finance
	For the financial year to date, 3,058 SMEs have been offered loans under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, with a total value of £317.4 million.
	Collaborative Research and Development Product, Smart, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Networking for Innovation
	The Technology Strategy Board's current estimated spend for 2011/12 is as follows:
	Collaborative R&D—£186 million
	Smart—£20 million
	Knowledge Transfer partnerships—£24 million
	Knowledge Transfer Networks—£15.6 million
	The Technology Strategy Board's current grant funding committed to date in 2011/12 (and which will be accrued and paid in 2011/12 and in to future years) is as follows:
	Collaborative R&D—£100.5 million
	Smart—£38.5 million
	Knowledge Transfer partnerships—£28.5 million
	Knowledge Transfer Networks—£16.3 million
	Helping Your Business Grow Internationally (Bob Collier)
	Work Place Training, Including Apprenticeships
	The Adult Skills budget supports Apprenticeships for those aged 19 and over, first qualifications at level 2 and 3 for those aged 19 up to 24, co-funded training at level 2 for SMEs and literacy and numeracy. In line with the demand-led nature of the Adult Skills budget, and the freedoms and flexibilities given to FE colleges and providers, figures on the projected spend by individual programmes in 2011-12 are not available. The Adult Skills budget for 2011-12 financial year is £2.8 billion of which the minimum expectation for Apprenticeships for those aged 19 and over is £644 million. The funding available for 16 to 18-year-old Apprenticeships in 2011-12 is £779 million. This gives a total for Apprenticeships of over £1.4 billion. As part of the Business Coaching for Growth programme, £20 million is available in 2011-12 to develop leadership and management skills focussing on SMEs that demonstrate the potential for high or fast growth.
	Designing Demand
	During 2011/12 a total of £1,306,972 of public money has been put into the Designing Demand design mentoring scheme for SMEs.
	Business Link
	This is a website portal allowing businesses to access information on business support schemes. No business support is offered directly through the link.
	High Growth Coaching
	There is no direct funding for business available through the High Growth Coaching product.
	Grants for Business Investment;
	Regional Growth Fund.

Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many UK exporters have received assistance through the Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee since it was established.

Norman Lamb: The Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee (ExEFG) was launched as a pilot in April 2011, as part of a menu of extra help for exporters which includes schemes provided by UK Export Finance (the trading name of the Export Credit Guarantee Department).
	To date, ExEFG has helped facilitate short term export finance facilities for five small and medium-size enterprises, with a total value of £2.9 million. These are corrected figures from those that I provided to the hon. Member for Streatham (Mr Umunna) in response to PQ 88750, 10 January 2012, Official Report, column 187W, as a business offered a facility decided against using it.

Foreign Companies: Debts

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assistance his Department gives to UK companies seeking to recover monies owed by companies based abroad.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 22 March 2012
	Through UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the Government Department that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy and assists overseas companies to bring their high-quality investment to the UK, the Department can provide advice and guidance to UK based businesses looking to recover monies owed to them by overseas businesses.
	UKTI does not actively engage in such disputes as they are effectively a legal matter between two parties. However, UKTI teams based in the UK and overseas can provide advice on commercial practice in any particular market and on means of enforcing commercial debts, including providing lists of lawyers and/or debt collection agencies. Where appropriate, UKTI can also register concern with the local administration on behalf of the UK Company.

Northwest Regional Development Agency: Government Procurement Card

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place in the Library a list of the Government procurement card transactions, including each (a) transaction date, (b) supplier and (c) value, for the Northwest Regional Development Agency in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11.

Mark Prisk: A list of all Government procurement card transactions of Northwest Regional Development Agency in 2009-10 and 2010-11, showing transaction date, supplier and amount, will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Overseas Students: Entry Clearances

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with Ministers in the devolved Administrations on higher education matters and tier 4 visas.

David Willetts: I have not had any direct discussions with Ministers from the devolved Administrations specifically on tier 4 visas. Officials in BIS have worked with officials in the devolved Administrations to ensure that the new arrangements for inspection and accreditation of the further education and higher education sectors work across the whole of the UK.

Overseas Trade: West Africa

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what UKTI trade delegations have travelled to (a) Nigeria and (b) West Africa since May 2010; and how many firms took part from (i) Newcastle, (ii) the North East and (c) in total in each case.

Mark Prisk: United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) has taken one trade delegation to Nigeria since May 2010. 15 companies participated. One was from the North East but none were from Newcastle. UKTI did not take any other trade delegations to West Africa during this period. Other organisations, such as Chambers of Commerce, have taken missions. UKTI assisted these missions.

Research

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the financial statement of 21 March 2012, where and when funding for new university research facilities will be spent; how much of the funding announced is from the public purse; and what plans he has to use the funding to leverage further private sector funding.

David Willetts: In Budget 2012, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced £100 million of capital funding for universities to accelerate private investment in UK university research infrastructure. This public funding will be available over the spending review period and will be dedicated to large capital projects which lever significant additional private investment. The funding is intended to leverage upwards of £200 million more investment from the private sector and charities into UK university research infrastructure.
	The funding will be available across the UK and will be administered on a competitive basis by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, working in collaboration with the devolved higher education funding bodies. Further details will be announced in due course.

Square Kilometre Array Telescope

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on implementation of the recommendations of the Square Kilometre Array Site Advisory Committee; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: Members of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Organisation will consider the report and recommendation of the SKA Site Advisory Committee, and agree on next steps and actions. The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) represents the UK in the SKA Organisation and it liaises closely with the Department on SKA discussions.

Square Kilometre Array Telescope

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish the location recommended by the independent Square Kilometre Array Site Advisory Committee; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Site Advisory Committee has undertaken a detailed evaluation of the two candidate sites and has presented its report and recommendation on the preferred site for the SKA to the SKA Board.
	All parties involved have agreed that this information should remain confidential while the process for arriving at the SKA site location decision is under way.

Square Kilometre Array Telescope

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  whether the independent Square Kilometre Site Advisory Committee has completed its evaluation of the cost and infrastructure implications of the African and Australian and New Zealand bids to host the Square Kilometre Array telescope; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether the independent Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Advisory Committee has submitted its recommendations regarding the location of the SKA; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Site Advisory Committee has undertaken a detailed evaluation of the two candidate sites and has presented its report and recommendation on the preferred site for the SKA to the SKA Board.

Students: Fees and Charges

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  if he will encourage universities to adopt a transparent approach to publicising all costs associated with courses in addition to tuition fees in their course prospectuses;
	(2)  what recent assessment he has made of the capacity of the Higher Education Funding Council to monitor costs to students of university courses additional to tuition fees;
	(3)  what recent assessment he has made of the effects of additional fees levied in some higher education institutions for items such as (a) core textbooks, (b) field trips and (c) laboratory equipment on the course decisions of undergraduates.

David Willetts: holding answer 21 March 2012
	Increasing transparency and providing more information to students is central to our higher education reforms.
	Through the publication of the Key Information Set, which will be available from September 2012, we are encouraging universities to publish information in those areas that research has shown that students find most useful. This will include the costs of tuition fees, bursaries and the costs of accommodation. Accommodation costs will cover both provision owned/sponsored by institutions and accommodation managed by private landlords and agents.
	We are also encouraging universities to produce student charters to set out what the university will provide, and what is expected of students in return. Charters link to more detailed information (e.g. handbooks) for each course. The ‘suggested list of items’ for charters includes “essential course costs and estimate of additional costs”. It is expected that charters are jointly developed and agreed with local students' unions, to ensure that priority areas are covered.
	No assessment has been made of Higher Education Funding Council's (HEFCE's) capacity to monitor the costs to students in addition to tuition fees; this is not within HEFCE's responsibility.
	No assessment has been made of the effects of additional fees on course decisions made by prospective students. University prospectuses, and the range of courses they offer, will vary year on year in response to student and business demand.

Students: Finance

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps the Government is taking to retain bursaries and ensure they remain available to students.

David Willetts: holding answer 15 March 2012
	According to estimates from the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), including the Government's contribution to the National Scholarship Programme, by 2015 English institutions will make £286 million available to students in the form of bursaries and scholarships.
	Institutions charging above the basic fee level must agree Access Agreements with the Director of Fair Access. In Access Agreements, institutions set out the financial support they will offer to disadvantaged students, including bursaries and fee waivers; the additional outreach activities they will undertake; and the measures of achievement that they have set themselves. The Director of Fair Access has made it clear in his guidance to institutions that he will normally expect such support to be targeted at the most disadvantaged students.
	According to analysis conducted by OFFA bursaries, as part of the previous student funding arrangements, have had no impact on students' universities choices. With student finance changes coming into force from autumn 2012, OFFA will closely monitor the impact of fee waivers and bursaries and plans to conduct research and analysis to see if one method of financial support is more effective than another in supporting and promoting fair access.

Students: Loans

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the number of undergraduate students eligible for loans under the Student Loan Scheme at (a) for-profit institutions and (b) not-for-profit institutions that are not funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in 2012-13.

David Willetts: holding answer 19 March 2012
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) does not hold complete information on the number of students enrolled, and therefore potentially eligible for student support, at institutions not funded by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) as these institutions are not required to provide student numbers data to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) or to BIS. Therefore, we cannot provide estimates on the number of students eligible for support in 2012/13.

Sunday Trading: Olympic Games 2012

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make an assessment before the end of 2012 of whether any permanent change to Sunday trading hours should be made following the Olympic trial of relaxed Sunday trading hours; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: During the Olympic and Paralympic Games we want to ensure that visitors to the UK have the best experience possible. It is also an opportunity to show that the UK is ‘open for business’. As part of this, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government were suspending the current rules that prohibit some large shops from opening on a Sunday from the week before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games through to the date of the closing ceremony of the Paralympics, from 22 July 2012 to 9 September 2012.
	The temporary suspension of Sunday trading restrictions is not a trial and will assist in ensuring that visitors to the Olympics can take full advantage of all the UK has to offer, including its world class shops. It is not a pilot for a wider liberalisation of Sunday trading, nor will the Bill contain powers for wider liberalisation.
	Should the Government ever decide that a more permanent suspension of the Sunday trading rules is necessary, legislation and a full consultation would be required.

Yorkshire Forward: Government Procurement Card

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place in the Library a list of the transactions of the Yorkshire Forward Development Agency in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 by individual (i) transaction date, (ii) supplier and (iii) amount.

Mark Prisk: Yorkshire Forward has made use of Government procurement cards (GPC) for information and communications technology and facilities-related purchases since November 2009. A list of all Yorkshire Forward GPC transactions in 2010-11, showing transaction date, supplier and amount, will be placed in the Libraries of the House. Information on individual transactions in 2009-10 can be provided only at disproportionate cost but a summary of balances, per employee, for November 2009 to March 2010 will also be placed in the Libraries of the House.

EDUCATION

Academies: Nottingham

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress has been made on academy status for Top Valley school, Nottingham.

Nick Gibb: Officials are working with the sponsor and the local authority to finalise an Academy Expression of Interest for this school. We hope to announce the outcome very shortly.

Domestic Visits

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many visits in an official capacity he has made to each region since May 2010.

Tim Loughton: The following table shows the number of visits which the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has made in an official capacity to each region since May 2010.
	
		
			 Region Number of visits made 
			 East Midlands 2 
			 East of England 11 
			 Greater London 32 
			 North East England 5 
			 North West England 2 
			 South West England 7 
			 West Midlands 3 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 8 
			 Total 70

Free School Meals

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which English local authorities provided free school meals to all their pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 19 March 2012
	In January 2011 there were no English local authorities where all primary or secondary school pupils were eligible for and claiming free school meals.
	Durham, Newham and Wolverhampton local authorities participated in a two-year free school meal pilot which ended in July 2011. Durham and Newham provided universal free school meals to all primary pupils, and Wolverhampton extended the current eligibility criteria to provide free school meals to primary and secondary pupils from families in receipt of working tax credit.
	I understand that other local authorities have introduced reduced price or free school meals for limited periods to encourage more pupils to take a school lunch, but the Department does not routinely collect this information.

Free Schools

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department has provided to free school applicants to pay consultants.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 13 March 2012
	The Department does not hold figures on consultancy spend by academy trusts establishing free schools. For free schools opened in 2011 or currently in development, the average figure for development costs to date is £105,000 per project. The average total cost of developing a sponsored academy under the previous Administration was over £1,000,000.

Further Education

Jack Straw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what value for money criteria he uses to assess bids for increased revenue and capital expenditure on new entrants and converter institutions for the 16 to 18 phase of education; and what (a) has been spent and (b) is projected to be spent within these categories in Blackburn constituency between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

Nick Gibb: New 16 to 19 providers and maintained schools with sixth forms which become academies do not bid for their ongoing revenue funding. We have processes to enable new providers to enter the 16 to 19 market and for maintained schools to become academies. These providers then receive an allocation of revenue funding based on lagged student recruitment (for established providers) or expected recruitment (for new providers) in order to ensure value for money.
	New standalone 16 to 19 providers (as opposed to established providers adding a sixth form) are eligible for start-up funding. In these cases we carefully consider the funding needed in order to enable the provider to function properly on the day of opening.
	Schools becoming academies (with or without sixth forms) receive a grant of £25,000 if they are voluntarily converting, and more if they have a sponsor to help with improving standards as part of the move to academy status, but this is not 16 to 19 specific.
	In 2011-12 capital funding has been made available, through the Demographic Growth Capital Fund (DGCF), to support the provision of new 16 to 19 places in areas of demographic growth. To qualify for funding, local authorities/institutions needed to provide a cost effective, preferred option to provide new capacity supported by evidence that the extra capacity was needed. The DGCF will also be available in 2012-13. In addition, local authorities have been allocated capital funds for new pupil places in schools and academies, although this funding is likely to be targeted at creating primary places where there is greatest need across the country. Successful 16 to 19 free school applicants are granted capital funding following an assessment of their needs and value for money and those costs will be published once confirmed.
	In the 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years there were no new providers of 16 to 19 education and training in Blackburn local authority. Funding details for new 16 to 19 provision in Blackburn local authority for 2012-13 have not yet been finalised and for 2013-14 onwards will not yet be known.

Harassment

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) bullying and (b) sexual harassment complaints have been made against (i) director-level employees or above and (ii) special advisers in his Department in each quarter since 1 January 2010.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 23 March 2012
	Since January 2010, the Department has not received any sexual harassment complaints against employees at either director level and above or special advisers. During the same period, less than five allegations of bullying were received against members of staff at director level or above or special advisers.

Higher Education: Admissions

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the effects on his policies of the 2012 university applications figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service showing a reduction in applications for courses in European languages.

David Willetts: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	We estimate that in 2012 there will still be many more applications for higher education (HE) language courses than places available. 2011 was a record year in the overall number of people applying for HE places and a reduction this year could be considered inevitable, with a high proportion of applications for language courses coming from a reducing population of 18-year-olds.
	In the recent grant letter, we asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to prioritise funding support for strategically important and vulnerable subjects, including modern foreign languages, to ensure the continued availability of language places in higher education institutions.

Lost Property

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what property has been lost or stolen from his Department in the last 12 months; and what the estimated cost was of replacement of such property.

Tim Loughton: In the last 12 months the following departmental property has been (a) lost and (b) stolen:
	
		
			  Lost Stolen Total 
			 Laptops 1 11 12 
			 BlackBerry 11 6 17 
			 Mobile phone 2 0 2 
			 Memory Stick 6 0 6 
			 Signify Token 7 1 8 
			 Camera 0 1 1 
		
	
	The estimated cost of replacement is £14,000.00
	All DFE IT equipment is fully security encrypted. The replacement cost of laptops includes encryption software to allow the handling of sensitive material up to ‘Restricted’ and to meet the Code of Connection for the Government Secure Intranet, the operating system (including log-on keys) for secure remote access to the Department's ICT system for operational and resilience purposes, license, set-up and support costs.

Manpower

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people were employed in interim posts by (a) his Department and (b) a non-ministerial department or arm's length body controlled by the Department through (i) Penna Consulting, (ii) Reed Personnel Services and (iii) Capita Resourcing Ltd (trading as Veredus) on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many such people (A) had been in post for over a year and (B) worked full-time at that date.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education can confirm the following information is correct as at 31 January 2012:
	
		
			 (a) Number of people employed in interim posts by the Department for Education 
			 Provider Number Number in post over one year Number who worked full-time at that date 
			 Penna Consulting 0 0 0 
			 Reed Personnel Services 17 0 5 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd 11 0 11 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Number of people employed in interim posts by a non-ministerial department or arm's length body controlled by the Department for Education 
			 Provider Number Number in post over one year Number who worked full time at that date 
			 Penna Consulting 4 0 3 
			 Reed Personnel Services 3 0 2 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd 1 0 1

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will rank English local authorities by the percentage change in real terms of expenditure per pupil for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools between 2010-11 and 2011-12, showing the cash amount in each case.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 22 March 2012
	Since 2006-07, the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is the main source of school funding. As the DSG is distributed through a single guaranteed unit of funding per pupil and is distributed from central Government to local government, a primary/secondary split on a central to local government basis is not available.
	In addition to the DSG in 2011-12 local authorities received a pupil premium grant for each pupil who is either in receipt of free school meals, a service child or a looked after child at the census date. The amounts given for each pupil in 2011-12 are also given as follows.
	The Guaranteed Unit of Funding (GUF) in 2011-12 comprised the guaranteed unit of funding from 2010-11 and a per pupil amount of mainstreamed grants paid to local authorities in 2010-11, and has been kept cash-flat at the 2010-11 level.
	
		
			 Dedicated Schools Grant—Guaranteed Unit of Funding (GUF) for 2010-11 and 2011-12 
			 £ 
			  Total GUF baseline for 2010-11 (DSG GUF + Grants GUF) Total GUF for 2011-12 
			 England 5,082.54 5,082.54 
			    
			 City of London 9,372.60 9,372.60 
			 Camden 7,648.88 7,648.88 
			 Greenwich 6,800.97 6,800.97 
			 Hackney 7,811.42 7,811.42 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 7,039.66 7,039.66 
			 Islington 7,319.03 7,319.03 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 7,036.19 7,036.19 
			 Lambeth 7,397.59 7,397.59 
			 Lewisham 6,951.67 6,951.67 
			 Southwark 7,244.45 7,244.45 
			 Tower Hamlets 8,051.51 8,051.51 
			 Wandsworth 6,565.23 6,565.23 
			 Westminster 6,896.80 6,896.80 
			 Barking 5,766.12 5,766.12 
			 Barnet 5,641.85 5,641.85 
			 Bexley 5,120.22 5,120.22 
			 Brent 6,236.45 6,236.45 
			 Bromley 4,944.33 4,944.33 
			 Croydon 5,345.00 5,345.00 
			 Ealing 6,100.39 6,100.39 
			 Enfield 5,569.44 5,569.44 
			 Haringey 6,306.81 6,306.81 
			 Harrow 5,536.33 5,536.33 
			 Havering 5,086.43 5,086.43 
			 Hillingdon 5,419.62 5,419.62 
			 Hounslow 5,843.50 5,843.50 
			 Kingston upon Thames 5,183.95 5,183.95 
			 Merton 5,424.57 5,424.57 
			 Newham 6,449.38 6,449.38 
			 Redbridge 5,247.70 5,247.70 
			 Richmond upon Thames 5,161.84 5,161.84 
			 Sutton 5,199.64 5,199.64 
			 Waltham Forest 5,841.83 5,841.83 
			 Birmingham 5,688.80 5,688.80 
			 Coventry 5,232.31 5,232.31 
			 Dudley 4,895.46 4,895.46 
			 Sandwell 5,314.71 5,314.71 
			 Solihull 4,652.39 4,652.39 
			 Walsall 5,131.27 5,131.27 
			 Wolverhampton 5,348.26 5,348.26 
			 Knowsley 5,446.85 5,446.85 
			 Liverpool 5,552.67 5,552.67 
			 St Helens 5,013.89 5,013.89 
			 Sefton 4,931.86 4,931.86 
			 Wirral 5,028.39 5,028.39 
			 Bolton 4,998.79 4,998.79 
			 Bury 4,821.97 4,821.97 
			 Manchester 5,875.61 5,875.61 
			 Oldham 5,229.13 5,229.13 
			 Rochdale 5,255.15 5,255.15 
			 Salford 5,444.28 5,444.28 
		
	
	
		
			 Stockport 4,791.07 4,791.07 
			 Tameside 4,942.19 4,942.19 
			 Trafford 4,760.68 4,760.68 
			 Wigan 4,882.41 4,882.41 
			 Barnsley 4,878.01 4,878.01 
			 Doncaster 4,982.32 4,982.32 
			 Rotherham 5,141.30 5,141.30 
			 Sheffield 5,001.30 5,001.30 
			 Bradford 5,293.05 5,293.05 
			 Calderdale 4,917.19 4,917.19 
			 Kirklees 4,990.38 4,990.38 
			 Leeds 4,945.95 4,945.95 
			 Wakefield 4,911.82 4,911.82 
			 Gateshead 5,123.28 5,123.28 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 5,287.85 5,287.85 
			 North Tyneside 4,905.81 4,905.81 
			 South Tyneside 5,302.78 5,302.78 
			 Sunderland 5,024.78 5,024.78 
			 Bath and N.E Somerset 4,787.96 4,787.96 
			 Bristol 5,469.01 5,469.01 
			 North Somerset 4,677.02 4,677.02 
			 South Gloucestershire 4,487.41 4,487.41 
			 Hartlepool 5,191.51 5,191.51 
			 Middlesbrough 5,351.92 5,351.92 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 5,147.55 5,147.55 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 4,988.15 4,988.15 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull 5,293.94 5,293.94 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 4,613.11 4,613.11 
			 North East Lincolnshire 5,102.19 5,102.19 
			 North Lincolnshire 4,817.71 4,817.71 
			 North Yorkshire 4,786.91 4,786.91 
			 York 4,657.28 4,657.28 
			 Luton 5,314.72 5,314.72 
			 Bedford Borough 4,909.06 4,909.06 
			 Central Bedfordshire 4,658.10 4,658.10 
			 Buckinghamshire 4,813.61 4,813.61 
			 Milton Keynes 5,073.75 5,073.75 
			 Derbyshire 4,765.51 4,765.51 
			 Derby City 5,049.32 5,049.32 
			 Dorset 4,682.68 4,682.68 
			 Poole 4,578.67 4,578.67 
			 Bournemouth 4,658.54 4,658.54 
			 Durham 5,067.56 5,067.56 
			 Darlington 4,896.54 4,896.54 
			 East Sussex 4,913.43 4,913.43 
			 Brighton and Hove 5,017.08 5,017.08 
			 Hampshire 4,647.63 4,647.63 
			 Portsmouth 5,041.60 5,041.60 
			 Southampton 5,123.29 5,123.29 
			 Leicestershire 4,428.70 4,428.70 
			 Leicester City 5,290.07 5,290.07 
			 Rutland 4,748.83 4,748.83 
		
	
	
		
			 Staffordshire 4,653.02 4,653.02 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 5,199.81 5,199.81 
			 Wiltshire 4,592.87 4,592.87 
			 Swindon 4,696.48 4,696.48 
			 Bracknell Forest 4,860.95 4,860.95 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 4,966.89 4,966.89 
			 West Berkshire 4,891.12 4,891.12 
			 Reading 5,287.21 5,287.21 
			 Slough 5,540.04 5,540.04 
			 Wokingham 4,711.01 4,711.01 
			 Cambridgeshire 4,643.51 4,643.51 
			 Peterborough 5,168.59 5,168.59 
			 Halton 5,354.52 5,354.52 
			 Warrington 4,668.15 4,668.15 
			 Devon 4,602.77 4,602.77 
			 Plymouth 4,890.54 4,890.54 
			 Torbay 4,841.97 4,841.97 
			 Essex 4,816.23 4,816.23 
			 Southend-on-Sea 5,033.82 5,033.82 
			 Thurrock 5,111.56 5,111.56 
			 Herefordshire 4,723.65 4,723.65 
			 Worcestershire 4,600.77 4,600.77 
			 Kent 4,885.37 4,885.37 
			 Medway 4,953.08 4,953.08 
			 Lancashire 4,902.45 4,902.45 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 5,416.34 5,416.34 
			 Blackpool 4,983.66 4,983.66 
			 Nottinghamshire 4,746.78 4,746.78 
			 Nottingham City 5,712.72 5,712.72 
			 Shropshire 4,611.67 4,611.67 
			 Telford and Wrekin 4,854.50 4,854.50 
			 Cheshire East 4,695.01 4,695.01 
			 Cheshire West and Chester 4,895.89 4,895.89 
			 Cornwall 4,663.54 4,663.54 
			 Cumbria 4,828.49 4,828.49 
			 Gloucestershire 4,660.95 4,660.95 
			 Hertfordshire 4,786.53 4,786.53 
			 Isle of Wight 5,001.40 5,001.40 
			 Lincolnshire 4,797.87 4,797.87 
			 Norfolk 4,785.83 4,785.83 
			 Northamptonshire 4,698.68 4,698.68 
			 Northumberland 4,744.38 4,744.38 
			 Oxfordshire 4,757.72 4,757.72 
			 Somerset 4,667.57 4,667,57 
			 Suffolk 4,676.45 4,676.45 
			 Surrey 4,803.74 4,803.74 
			 Warwickshire 4,662.81 4,662.81 
			 West Sussex 4,704.82 4,704.82 
		
	
	Pupil Premium Grant for 2011-12
	In 2011-12 local authorities additionally received £488 for each pupil that received free school meals or were a looked after child in their area and £200 for each pupil who was registered as a service child in their area.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will rank English local authorities by the estimated percentage change in real terms expenditure per pupil for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools between 2010-11 and 2012-13, showing the cash amount in each case.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 22 March 2012
	Since 2006-07, the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is the main source of school funding. As the DSG is distributed through a single guaranteed unit of funding per pupil and is distributed from central Government to local government, a primary/secondary split on a central to local government basis is not available.
	The guaranteed unit of funding (GUF) for 2012-13 has remained cash flat at the levels distributed in 2011-12.
	
		
			 Dedicated Schools Grant—guaranteed unit of funding (GUF) for 2010-11 and 2012-13 
			 (£) 
			  Total GUF baseline for 2010-11 (DSG GUF + Grants GUF) Total GUF for 2012-13 
			 England 5,082.54 5,082.54 
			    
			 City of London 9,372.60 9,372.60 
			 Camden 7,648.88 7,648.88 
			 Greenwich 6,800.97 6,800.97 
			 Hackney 7,811.42 7,811.42 
			 Hammersmith & Fulham 7,039.66 7,039.66 
			 Islington 7,319.03 7,319.03 
			 Kensington & Chelsea 7,036.19 7,036.19 
			 Lambeth 7,397.59 7,397.59 
			 Lewisham 6,951.67 6,951.67 
			 Southwark 7,244.45 7,244.45 
			 Tower Hamlets 8,051.51 8,051.51 
			 Wandsworth 6,565.23 6,565.23 
			 Westminster 6,896.80 6,896.80 
			 Barking 5,766.12 5,766.12 
			 Barnet 5,641.85 5,641.85 
			 Bexley 5,120.22 5,120.22 
			 Brent 6,236.45 6,236.45 
			 Bromley 4,944.33 4,944.33 
			 Croydon 5,345.00 5,345.00 
			 Ealing 6,100.39 6,100.39 
			 Enfield 5,569.44 5,569.44 
			 Haringey 6,306.81 6,306.81 
			 Harrow 5,536.33 5,536.33 
			 Havering 5,086.43 5,086.43 
			 Hillingdon 5,419.62 5,419.62 
			 Hounslow 5,843.50 5,843.50 
			 Kingston Upon Thames 5,183.95 5,183.95 
			 Merton 5,424.57 5,424.57 
			 Newham 6,449.38 6,449.38 
			 Redbridge 5,247.70 5,247.70 
			 Richmond Upon Thames 5,161.84 5,161.84 
			 Sutton 5,199.64 5,199.64 
			 Waltham Forest 5,841.83 5,841.83 
			 Birmingham 5,688.80 5,688.80 
			 Coventry 5,232.31 5,232.31 
			 Dudley 4,895.46 4,895.46 
			 Sandwell 5,314.71 5,314.71 
			 Solihull 4,652.39 4,652.39 
			 Walsall 5,131.27 5,131.27 
			 Wolverhampton 5,348.26 5,348.26 
		
	
	
		
			 Knowsley 5,446.85 5,446.85 
			 Liverpool 5,552.67 5,552.67 
			 St Helens 5,013.89 5,013.89 
			 Sefton 4,931.86 4,931.86 
			 Wirral 5,028.39 5,028.39 
			 Bolton 4,998.79 4,998.79 
			 Bury 4,821.97 4,821.97 
			 Manchester 5,875.61 5,875.61 
			 Oldham 5,229.13 5,229.13 
			 Rochdale 5,255.15 5,255.15 
			 Salford 5,444.28 5,444.28 
			 Stockport 4,791.07 4,791.07 
			 Tameside 4,942.19 4,942.19 
			 Trafford 4,760.68 4,760.68 
			 Wigan 4,882.41 4,882.41 
			 Barnsley 4,878.01 4,878.01 
			 Doncaster 4,982.32 4,982.32 
			 Rotherham 5,141.30 5,141.30 
			 Sheffield 5,001.30 5,001.30 
			 Bradford 5,293.05 5,293.05 
			 Calderdale 4,917.19 4,917.19 
			 Kirklees 4,990.38 4,990.38 
			 Leeds 4,945.95 4,945.95 
			 Wakefield 4,911.82 4,911.82 
			 Gateshead 5,123.28 5,123.28 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne 5,287.85 5,287.85 
			 North Tyneside 4,905.81 4,905.81 
			 South Tyneside 5,302.78 5,302.78 
			 Sunderland 5,024.78 5,024.78 
			 Bath and N.E Somerset 4,787.96 4,787.96 
			 Bristol 5,469.01 5,469.01 
			 North Somerset 4,677.02 4,677.02 
			 South Gloucestershire 4,487.41 4,487.41 
			 Hartlepool 5,191.51 5,191.51 
			 Middlesbrough 5,351.92 5,351.92 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 5,147.55 5,147.55 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 4,988.15 4,988.15 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull 5,293.94 5,293.94 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 4,613.11 4,613.11 
			 North East Lincolnshire 5,102.19 5,102.19 
			 North Lincolnshire 4,817.71 4,817.71 
			 North Yorkshire 4,786.91 4,786.91 
			 York 4,657.28 4,657.28 
			 Luton 5,314.72 5,314.72 
			 Bedford Borough 4,909.06 4,909.06 
			 Central Bedfordshire 4,658.10 4,658.10 
			 Buckinghamshire 4,813.61. 4,813.61 
			 Milton Keynes 5,073.75 5,073.75 
			 Derbyshire 4,765.51 4,765.51 
			 Derby City 5,049.32 5,049.32 
			 Dorset 4,682.68 4,682.68 
			 Poole 4,578.67 4,578.67 
			 Bournemouth 4,658.54 4,658.54 
			 Durham 5,067.56 5,067.56 
			 Darlington 4,896.54 4,896.54 
			 East Sussex 4,913.43 4,913.43 
			 Brighton and Hove 5,017.08 5,017.08 
			 Hampshire 4,647.63 4,647.63 
			 Portsmouth 5,041.60 5,041.60 
		
	
	
		
			 Southampton 5,123.29 5,123.29 
			 Leicestershire 4,428.70 4,428.70 
			 Leicester City 5,290.07 5,290.07 
			 Rutland 4,748.83 4,748.83 
			 Staffordshire 4,653.02 4,653.02 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 5,199.81 5,199.81 
			 Wiltshire 4,592.87 4,592.87 
			 Swindon 4,696.48 4,696.48 
			 Bracknell Forest 4,860.95 4,860.95 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 4,966.89 4,966.89 
			 West Berkshire 4,891.12 4,891.12 
			 Reading 5,287.21 5,287.21 
			 Slough 5,540.04 5,540.04 
			 Wokingham 4,711.01 4,711.01 
			 Cambridgeshire 4,643.51 4,643.51 
			 Peterborough 5,168.59 5,168.59 
			 Halton 5,354.52 5,354.52 
			 Warrington 4,668.15 4,668.15 
			 Devon 4,602.77 4,602.77 
			 Plymouth 4,890.54 4,890.54 
			 Torbay 4,841.97 4,841.97 
			 Essex 4,816.23 4,816.23 
			 Southend-on-Sea 5,033.82 5,033.82 
			 Thurrock 5,111.56 5,111.56 
			 Herefordshire 4,723.65 4,723.65 
			 Worcestershire 4,600.77 4,600.77 
			 Kent 4,885.37 4,885.37 
			 Medway 4,953.08 4,953.08 
			 Lancashire 4,902.45 4,902.45 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 5,416.34 5,416.34 
			 Blackpool 4,983.66 4,983.66 
			 Nottinghamshire 4,746.78 4,746.78 
			 Nottingham City 5,712.72 5,712.72 
			 Shropshire 4,611.67 4,611.67 
			 Telford and Wrekin 4,854.50 4,854.50 
			 Cheshire East 4,695.01 4,695.01 
			 Cheshire West & Chester 4,895.89 4,895.89 
			 Cornwall 4,663.54 4,663.54 
			 Cumbria 4,828.49 4,828.49 
			 Gloucestershire 4,660.95 4,660.95 
			 Hertfordshire 4,786.53 4,786.53 
			 Isle Of Wight 5,001.40 5,001.40 
			 Lincolnshire 4,797.87 4,797.87 
			 Norfolk 4,785.83 4,785.83 
			 Northamptonshire 4,698.68 4,698.68 
			 Northumberland 4,744.38 4,744.38 
			 Oxfordshire 4,757.72 4,757.72 
			 Somerset 4,667.57 4,667.57 
			 Suffolk 4,676.45 4,676.45 
			 Surrey 4,803.74 4,803.74 
			 Warwickshire 4,662.81 4,662.81 
			 West Sussex 4,704.82 4,704.82 
		
	
	Pupil Premium Grants for 2012-13
	In 2012-13 local authorities will receive an additional £600 for each pupil that received free school meals in the last six years or are a looked after child in their area and £250 for each pupil who was registered as a service child in their area in the last two years.

Sustainable Development

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has made an assessment of the quality of the teaching of environmental sustainability in schools.

Nick Gibb: Our reforms are designed to improve standards by giving greater autonomy to schools. We want schools to make their own judgments about how sustainable development should be reflected in their ethos, day-to-day operations and curriculum. We are helping schools to do this with the Sustainable Schools Alliance, a group of voluntary organisations who are working together to provide support to schools.
	We are also reviewing the national curriculum with the aim of focusing it on the body of essential knowledge in key subjects that all children need to learn. This will leave teachers free to use their professional judgment and expertise to design curricula that best meet their pupils’ needs.

Teaching Aids: Video Games

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to encourage teaching through educational video games.

Nick Gibb: The Government are committed to giving schools the freedom to use their professional judgment in implementing new technologies.
	In his recent speech at BETT the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), highlighted opportunities provided by technology to improve teaching and study, both within and beyond the classroom, including the potential for the use of games and interactive software.
	Over the period 2011-13 the Government will allocate a total of £3.75 million to support professional development opportunities and resources for teachers in the effective use of ICT. These are delivered by the VITAL consortium, comprising the Open University and e-Skills UK.

Youth Clubs

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will assess the merits of bringing forward proposals to encourage local authorities to maintain the provision of youth centres when implementing reductions in their budgets.

Tim Loughton: As set out in their Positive for Youth strategy, the Government recognise the valuable contribution that high quality services and facilities can make to improving outcomes for young people—particularly for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people. They look to local authorities to work with their partners to commission services in response to local needs, and will not prescribe the nature or level of services that should be provided nor ring-fence funding for this purpose.
	The Government have, however, secured £141 million over 2011-13 to complete a network of 63 high quality Myplace youth centres in disadvantaged areas across the country. These will be hubs for a wide range of services, transforming the local offer for young people.
	On 5 March 2012, the Department published for consultation revised statutory guidance on the relevant duty contained in section 507B of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. The draft guidance focuses strongly on the essential principles to which local authorities must have regard in planning and commissioning services for young people. This guidance will be finalised and published once we have considered responses to the consultation, which closes on 25 May 2012.